So, it has been a month of packing and selling and hocking and sharing my unwanted things, and, of course, saying my goodbyes to people and places. I have lived in Victoria for 10 years as of April this year. I came out here when I was 23 and full of possibility, and I'm leaving when I'm 33 and, as it turns out, once again full of possibility. Somewhere in the middle there, it felt like most of my life consisted of little life rafts of excitement adrift in the Sea of the Same Old.
That is not to say my life in between hasn't been full of wonderful things. I am an extraordinarily fortunate person. I have been born a Canadian, first and foremost, and that has already set me ahead in the world. I am lucky enough to come from a loving family; my parents still laugh together, and I think that stability has made me a more reliable and confident person. I have a close sister to laugh and to cry with, and her kids remind me that life is full of small miracles; being an Auntie is definitely one of them. I have some truly amazing and diverse friends around the globe who make me want to travel to the ends of the earth to visit them, or just go across town to share a bottle of wine and talk till the wee hours. And finally, I have no physical, mental or emotional problems that need to be medicated or otherwise treated as anything but average. Oh, and I have been blessed with a body and a mind that allow me to work hard and strive to succeed whenever possible. Ok, you get it. I'm lucky. But who in this world doesn't want more than they already have?
And so, after 10 years of growing comfortable, I'm now in the throes of throwing (and selling and sharing) it all away and living out of a backpack. No, it doesn't sound like I'm getting more than I already have, but that would be looking at it from a purely Capitalist point of view. I'm throwing away the material for the immaterial, and I have to admit, I haven't been so happy in a long time! I'm walking around with a smile on my face--a lot! People in the street are starting to give me funny looks, cuz I just burst out with friendly smiles at every corner! What is wrong with her?? Well, it's a little thing called possibility.
I'm not so naive as to think this change in my life is going to be all sunshine in a bag ("Clint Eastwood" by the Gorillaz, 2001, oh yes I did), and in reality, I'm likely to curse the many painful steps I'm inevitably going to take on this trip. But I know that I will forever remember the experience of it all. I know with certainty that it will open up the possibility of meeting new people, seeing new places and experiencing new things. Out of everything in my life so far, it is the adventure of travel that consistently puts the biggest smile on my face, whether dreaming about it beforehand, experiencing it at the time or just in memory of that time when... Once you've discovered what really makes your soul happy (and not just satisfied, content or complacent), how can you possibly settle for less?
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