I’m Not Running Away, I’m Wandering

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We wish they wouldn’t roll their eyes when we tell them we’re going on a monthlong journey on a riverboat down the Amazon. They will, though. Just like the time we told them we were quitting our job and spending half a year abroad to figure things out. Their response then? “Seems like you’re running away from something.”

It didn’t sound good the first time you heard it and it won’t sound great the fifty third time, but each time it hits; each time you flinch and your shoulders reach up to your ears to try and shield them from what’s coming, something changes. That’s when it starts. That’s when the crazy shows up. We begin to doubt ourselves.

What ARE we running away from?

The truth is we are perfectly entitled to go somewhere for no reason whatsoever other than the fact that we can.

There is no one in this world we need to answer to but our own hearts.

Embrace it.

Embrace that your life is so literally unbelievable that most of the population can’t begin to fathom it.

And if we are being honest with ourselves, would we really want anything less? Would we prefer to be predictable? No – because predictability does not live in the same world we do. It lives in a world of mortgages and time sheets and other various forms of chains. It lives in a place where fruits are bought from a fridge and not from a basket; where music is on a speaker and not played live in a town square.

So what, if we run? Running means we trust ourselves to make the most of whatever far off destination we end up in. Running means we value time like they did so many centuries ago: in it’s most basic form. We are the few who cherish it while we know we still can.

But running is not for everyone. In fact, it’s not for most. Running is for the brave and the resilient. It is for the restless and passionate. We are escape artists in a way; managing to untie ourselves from the expectations of society and the fear of failure.

So… are we running?

Absolutely.

Away?

More like ‘ahead.’

We are running towards a long list of childhood dreams and incredible stories that we can’t wait to tell anyone who will listen. We’re running because we won’t allow ourselves to be late. Life waits for no one, especially us. It will happily leave us behind as it has so many others before. It expects as much from us as we should expect from ourselves.

We don’t want to miss it.

We can’t.

And the people who ask us this question? They already have.