A couple of weeks ago I was telling someone, who I work with that I was going to spend my weekend at home going to a concert with friends. The more we talked the more I talked about how much I have travelled in my life from playing travel softball, to all the concerts I’ve attended, to professional sporting events, to attending college in South Carolina, variety of vacations, and we ended up talking about when I went to Paris, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam to play softball my senior year of high school.

My co-worker looked at me and said “oh you’re one of those people who live for the experience. I replied, "yes I love to go out, go on adventures, travel, and have fun with friends." Even my parents will complain and tell me how I should not be spending the money on concerts and professional sports game tickets and how I have my whole life ahead of me to travel and go to concerts and do all the things I am doing and in the meantime, I should be saving to pay off my student loans for college. I also have friends of mine that their parents or others will say the same thing to them, or will complain about how they do not want to spend the money, so they won’t join their friends for the adventure.

Yes, I am one of those people who live for the experience, but I don’t see it the way most people do. I see it as going and doing things I enjoy. Having fun with friends and experiencing the real world. It is not until after you go above and beyond your limits, you live, and you experience. That is when you see the bigger picture of life because life is so much more than what we see in our everyday lives.

I recommend everyone to live for the experience. Whether you are 14 or 70 years old, if you want to travel the world, to go see the Eiffel Tower or Great Wall of China, then go. If you want to go to a concert don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you want to go skydiving or just go to the movies, go. Don’t let other people tell you what you can and cannot do in your life. We all live in a world we are comfortable with and sometimes we are scared to take a chance or to step outside of the box, but the way I see it is as you only have one shot in this life and you never know what tomorrow brings, so you should make the best out of today. Take a chance, take the risk, step outside of your comfort zone. If you have the resources and you want to travel to Australia for a week, then go.

If you get a once in a lifetime chance to do something, take it. Whether it is studying abroad, an internship, a job across the country, step outside of the box, see the world and take the experience. You never know what the specific opportunity could do for you. Do not let others tell you or influence you differently. Be that person, be the one who lives for the experience because that’s what life is all about. Going out, having fun, and doing what you love.