“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Elliot
You have all seen those cliché one-liners and quotes along these same lines before:
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams”
“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.”
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk at all”
“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
What would it be like if we actually listened to that advice from those that have actually followed it? Are these just empty words?
I want to find out first hand.
The feeling of wanderlust and the desire to see and experience more of this world has been stirring in my soul for many years but logic and the safety of the path before me held me back from doing anything about it. The safety of knowing what I could become if I stayed on the same path without steering away from it to find out what else lies beyond it was too comfortable to want to make any changes.
But my heart just couldn’t be at peace knowing that I didn’t do something that is possible simply because it’s scary.
Life is too short and the knowing that one day I will no longer be on this planet is a beautiful reminder to enjoy the days that I do get to wake up healthy, full of vitality, and a thirst for life.
In life, we will never be fully ready to jump and that is why we must jump even when we are afraid and trust that things will work out.
About a year and a half ago, I stumbled upon the website www.workaway.info that matches hosts all over the world with volunteers that want to work and help out in exchange for a place to stay. As soon as I saw it, I knew this was the possible answer to that question of “How does one travel and see new places without spending a lot of money?” but that added bonus of being able to help people while immersing fully in the culture of wherever we went made it even more exciting.
Fully realizing all of the trade-offs, the potential discomforts and bumps in the road, but holding fear in one hand and passion in the other, the only thing left to do was decide and it was either now or never.
It has taken a long time to make the decision and take the steps needed to dive into this experience but here we stand and we are beyond excited to see what life holds for us in this new chapter.