To the adventurer and non-adventurer alike,

I recently encountered a quote: "Your 20's are your 'selfish' years. It's a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time, and all the aspects of you. Travel, explore, love a lot, love a little, and never touch the ground." - Kyoko Escamilla. I am a first-year college student. I've never been outside of the country. I've never done anything extremely adventurous like those Pinterest quotes tell me I should do. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here ya go:

When I first read the quote by Escamilla, I had a bit of a Walter Mitty moment. I'm not on e-harmony or anything like that (Thank God!), but it was like everything clicked. I realized that my ENTIRE life up to this point has been focused solely on mundane things that at the end of the day, aren't important. See, I have always been the girl who plays it safe. I never went to parties in high school, I did my homework every night. My idea of fun was staying in and watching Jane the Virgin by myself. I'm not saying that school isn't important, because it is. I'm also not saying you shouldn't watch Jane the Virgin because let's face it, Jane the Virgin is pretty awesome. What I'm saying is, there comes a point in life, (if it hasn't come yet, it will) where you will wonder what has happened to your time. You will wonder if the way you utilized your time and opportunities here on earth were wise. It's easy to live in a little shell. It's easy to focus on social media, TV, relationships, the cute boy you saw at Fred Meyer last Tuesday, or how badly you don't want to wash the dishes tonight. For me, I've come to realize that as cheesy as it sounds, life is short. You only get this one life. This one chance to embrace life at full speed. Time ticks and it never stops. With every tick, we are closer to death. Personally, I'm not going to sit around and spend my time wallowing over boys and freaking out over a TV show that has nothing to do with my life. I'm going to go out there and do anything and everything that I can for myself. If I want to go skydiving, I will. If I want to go skinny dipping, you know what? I will. I'm not going to waste my time anymore.
I don't know where life will take me but I know one thing, I will no longer sit and watch as my life escapes me.
In four months, I will leave the comfort of my routine. I will pack my life in a little black suitcase and set out for Vietnam. I will spend two weeks immersed in Vietnamese culture and history. This is the start of my story.