Still Movement

Alright people . It’s time to get back in the blogging saddle! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving (wherever you are in the world) and that you forgive me for spending a couple weeks off the radar while I re-assesed my future goals and figured some things out (ah yes, keeping it delightfully vague). I think you’re all going to be a little surprised by my new life plan… It’s still forming, but let’s just say I think I’m about to take a hard right turn down a different road. (Let’s hope it’s “right!”) I’m still a little nervous talking about it at all… But I suppose I always write about where I am at, and even if I am a little nervous, that’s all just a part of being right here.

Door. Argentina.

It’s beginning to happen. After a couple thrilling epiphany moments since I’ve been home and taking stock of reality, the seas of stagnant career-unknowns parted to make way for a new direction and I’m feeling the first tinges of stress that I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve got a big, crazy, ambitious new career plan and now, I’ve got to start executing it one step at a time. It’s completely intimidating, but also exciting. To some, it might seem a bit random, but to the people who have actually been paying attention all these years (that better be you), I think it will make a lot of sense. All I know is that the honeymoon is over; I’ve been home for just under three weeks now, and the new ball is beginning to roll. Oh boy.

During this time back in NYC, I have wondered quite a bit about what I want to do with TwT and how I will keep a captivated audience when I am not able to travel as much. (You guys wouldn’t ditch me now, would you?!) Then I remembered how and why I started this blog in the first place: it was a wanderlust blog. I wasn’t traveling all the time, I was just daydreaming constantly about where I might go next, and traveling, well, once-in-a-while. I wanted this to be a blog that would allow people to travel with me — if only for 15 minutes — from the comfort of their office chairs. Whether it was a trip into my world, or a quick trip through Mystery Snapshots (who wants me to bring those back?!), I wanted to offer people an escape – a quick getaway – that was, at the very least, free and freeing.

But now I’m in New York City, and the harsh reality is that I can’t afford to do many trips these days (wahhh!). Especially with my new plan beginning to take form. Hold on a sec, people…

To many, I suppose it seems I have stopped traveling. My adventure in Ecuador is over, the Galapagos trip has come and gone, and you shouldn’t be reading about any more bag slashings or parasite woes. (Yeah yeah yeah, sorry to disappoint!) But the truth is, I’m still going: the adventure never really stops. As much as I hope to stay (relatively) geographically still, there continues to be plenty of movement in my life. Sure, much of my traveling is now within the familiar sidewalks of NYC rather than through the exotic landscapes of South America (oops, sudden craving for a trip already hit), but I am in the midst of a huge change in course. Sometimes you’ve got to stay still to let the biggest changes happen.

The paint is still setting on my new plan, and I’ve got a lot of questions before I can feel like I’m on track. The next 5 or 6 years (yes, that is the immediate duration of the plan) are going to be the biggest ass-whooping I have had in a long time. I’m going out of the box, once more, and financially screwing myself… Only this time, it’s all an investment in a more stable future.

The strange part is that I want to do this. I’m going to have to commit to a subject I haven’t studied for ten years, and resuscitate that whole other side of my brain that has been dormant through my wordy, creative, wild-card adventures. I’m going to have to take the GREs, become a student again, and sacrifice a salary in an obscenely expensive city (although, considering cheaper ones). But before, I couldn’t commit to all this. It was too much, too long-term, too expensive. I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t willing to go there, and now, well, I think I am.

Leaves in a cloud forest. Mindo, Ecuador.

You’re going to have to allow me a few more blog entries before I actually get comfortable enough to announce my future goals to the entire blog-world, but this is what it’s all about, right? Growing, changing, evolving, and allowing all these things to actually happen, even if they are scary, nerve-racking and hard. I’ve always been interested in writing about the in-between places, not just the destinations, so here I am: somewhere in-between one goal and another.

This blog is as much about my travels through the world as it is about my travels through life — the challenges, the unpredictable twists and turns, and the surprises that occur both out there and in here [she points to her brain]. Travel forces outside changes, but that inevitably triggers internal changes, too. In every country, I learn as much about other cultures and other people as I learn about myself. It’s a yin-yang, inside-out learning experience thing… You know how it goes. Even though I might be staying put for a bit (well, we’ll see about that!), life keeps on moving. The journey continues and things change. This blog helps me keep up with myself.

I went to high school with a bunch of kids who started a band that, at the time, was called Six Dimension Formula. Most of them stayed together and got a record deal, and they now go by Holy Ghost. In one of their SDF songs, they said, “I take my feet out of my socks and put a pebble inside, so even when I walk I’ve got a rock in my stride.” That’s sort of what’s going on here. You can travel all over the world and experience the obvious thrills that come with it, but when the planes have landed and the money has dried up, you keep walking. The distance covered might be shorter, but all your trips stay with you, like a pebble stuffed in your sock, and you rock on in a new direction.

In some ways, the next few years might be the wildest trip I’ve been on yet. I am excited, scared, anxious, and totally curious. But here I go. And for what it’s worth, a trip to southern Spain and northern Morocco is in the works for March.

I guess that, in the end, some things never change. Hehe.