Einstein said “A ship is always safe at the shore – but that is not what it is built for”. And that’s where I found myself at the beginning of 2022. I had an amazing job in IT (that I very much enjoyed), in a recession proof industry, with room to grow. I had great friends and an amazing family. I couldn’t complain. But I felt off. There was a gap between where I was and where I wanted to be. Prior to the COVID pandemic I had taken a solo trip to Japan in 2019 and it set a fire off inside me that was so uncontrollable at that time. I loved it. I loved being in a place where I had very little knowledge of the language, culture, and values, but had to make my way.
I had decided I was going to take a year off to travel and write. I was going to leave in March 2020, but as the day drew closer, COVID laid its blanket of isolation across the globe. Admittedly, I was really crushed at the time. I had spent an entire year saving and planning this trip and right before I was going to embark on it, something as unfathomable as COVID took over the world. As the months went on it didn’t seem like COVID was going anywhere and while I was frustrated, I knew that there were people in much worse situations due to COVID and I should be grateful my family and friends were safe.
Plus it wasn’t all bad. I had met a beautiful girl that year and we started dating. For two years we spent most of our time together finding the best places to eat in Los Angeles, and did our best to patronize those restaurants that were suffering because of the lock downs. But 2022 began with us ending our non-stop food adventures and the world looked like it was opening back up. So I decided it was time. As I started making moves, Russia invaded Ukraine creating a lot of uncertainty in Europe (which is where I decided to begin my travels).
The truth is there is never a perfect time to start. There are always 100 reasons not to do something. There will always be an excuse – Your parents’ opinion, a war, a pandemic, the voice inside telling you it’s not worth the risk, or any number of things happening in our world that is constantly changing. But life is far too short to keep telling ourselves the same story of why we can’t have what we want. So buy the ticket, ask her out, start the business, say “I do!”, get in shape, climb that mountain, cruise the countryside. Most importantly, decide today that you won’t settle for less than you do or give. Take the risk because rejection, embarrassment, and the bull shit we tell ourselves weighs ounces, but regret weighs tons.
