And so it begins...

Wow. My first blog posting and 2 weeks to go... I thought I would start out with a bit of background about how this whole crazy idea came together...

I have to say that in the planning of this adventure, I never believed that it would arrive this fast. Time has all but disappeared, and all of a sudden I am feeling overwhelmed, excited, scared and somewhat nostalgic. If I hadn't walked into the principal's office in September and handed in my leave of absence, I am somewhat sure that I would have changed my mind, and never have gone through with it!

I have always admired adventurous souls though... There are so many people that have inspired me to do this – friends that have entertained me with stories of traveling with no plan and no destination or true stories retold in books or movies of people that left their lives behind to explore new possibilities, and “find themselves” (no matter how cliché that sounds!). I have always been jealous of their ability to throw caution to the wind and make a giant leap like that!

It is for that reason that I'm very proud that this idea has actually come to fruition. I remember trying to decide where to spend my intended year off, and realizing that I have never seen half of my own country. In that moment, I was Alberta Bound. I called my parents and friends and told them what I had decided – they were all excited, but I'm not sure they believed that I would actually do it. This is something outside of my comfort zone, outside of what I believed would be possible for myself. However, I felt like I needed my own adventure before I could with certainty begin to put down roots in one place. I not only needed the adventure, but I needed to know that I could do it.

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.
~Buddha

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.
~Buckminster Fuller

 Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
~George Moore