On my last night in California last week I was sitting at a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. (classy right?), waiting for my fish tacos and watching the sun set over Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. I looked up and saw this quote written above my table, “If you don’t know where you’re goin, it’s gonna be hard to get there.” Probably something that Forest Gump said – as the place was filled with random quotes and Gumpisms.
How fitting for an in between things/traveler/half adult as myself?
If you repeat that quote a few times in your head it gets a little scarier each time.
Despite the scariness of the thought, its pretty obvious. Of course! If you don’t know your end point, how will you make your way there? Applying it to traveling is one thing – but applying it to life is where the scariness sets in.
I have always been better at making smaller goals for myself. Something that is tangible that I can DO or see or feel. But it makes me wonder, what really is my endpoint? Does there need to be an endpoint? What if life is just meant to be about figuring what life is meant to be?
I have been learning that if you want something in life, the only thing that is stopping you is yourself. What do you want? How badly do you want it? I am slowly but surely piecing together some of the things that I want for my future and small but tangible ways to get there.
With my first adventure of 2017 in the books – it’s time to start thinking about my next and bigger adventure of this year. At the end of March, I will be heading to Nicaragua to do some volunteer work with an organization called Comamos Juntos or, we eat together. I will be there for about 7 weeks, living with a host family, working with the other volunteers and community members to collect and redistribute produce from the markets to the communities. You can read more about the details of what I will be doing here.
I am mixed bag of emotions. I am terrified. I can’t speak Spanish, I have a weird digestive system, and I am a blond tall female going to a place where I will stick out like a sore thumb. I am so excited though. I get to learn Spanish, try new foods, be the foreigner and tell my story, love people, and learn more about another country as well as an international nonprofit.
Sometimes in my life I wonder, what the heck am I even doing? Maybe I’m a little crazy, maybe I have a little too much lust for adventure but I like to think I am a little brave. I have found the things that feed my soul and make me feel alive and I can guarantee you – this will do just that. A little discomfort and a little tension remind us of what it’s like to live with comfort and allows us to better appreciate the moments of contentment.
I have learned to truly soak in the moments of feeling free and alive. The moments that send shivers down your spine or tingles in your fingers. The moments that are so vivid in your memories because all your senses came alive and breathed in the scents and sounds and feelings of those moments. I want more of those moments in my life.
I’ll leave you with this:
“I don’t do it to be a Good Samaritan I do it to feed my soul. We’re on this planet to love and be loved. The to love part means you’ve got to help. This is why I was put on this earth.” – David Foster
So where am I going? For now, Nicaragua.