My spirit animal is a hawk, as I've mentioned before. I'm less than 24 hours away from leaving the open spaces and the variety of ecosystems of western North America. In 48 hours I'll be in the Philippines, at the beginning of a 2- to 8- year adventure in the Far East that will probably take me to 20 different countries, and thousands of new experiences. I also have family in the Philippines who I've never even spoken to in my life. This journey will be a spiritual, personal, and physical adventure that simply HAS to happen at this point in my life. I have no commitments, no debt, nothing except family, friends, and the eternally compelling and important activist work to be done here in my homeland. At this moment, I am excited, a little nervous, and mostly just stressed about the frustrating process of boarding an airplane in one country and landing legally in another. I wonder if my western-US spirit hawk will be a Philippine Eagle when I return, or maybe even a totally different animal?
Ultimately, every time we step outside, we put ourselves in a situation of extreme risk. Traveling overseas spending very little as possible may sound risky to some. To me, life is too short not to take on risks that are unpredictable. Life should be full of first experiences; the time we have should feel fulfilling in every way. If you're not feeling fulfilled, then it's time to make a change in your life. Anyone, I mean ANYONE can make a journey like this. All it takes is a spark of desire, and a breeze of motivation, and life can be transformed in an instant.
I stand here with the utmost breadth and depth of experience that could be gained in the years I have lived up to now. Every moment unafraid of death because I know I lived every single moment to its fullest and wouldn't change a thing about my life and who it has led me to become. Life can't be put off. It's an ocean in torrent, utterly uncontrollable, that must be faced with courage and passion. Fling yourself into the nothingness of existence and see where it lands you. The liberation felt in that moment, and the depths of one's self that can be reached are ineffable.
There's no sense in worrying about things that can't be controlled. There's only me, this moment, and the next. What's important in these moments? For me, it's reuniting with my family, and grounding myself for the adventure of a lifetime. I'll meet you back here soon enough! I'm sure that by the time I have internet access in the Philippines, I'll have plenty of interesting stories to tell already. Until then!
beautiful!
ReplyDelete