The Idea
Have you ever had a brilliant, inspiring, and totally overwhelming moment of clarity? The single, solitary moment that flashes in front of your mind’s eye for only a brief, fleeting instant. Have you ever experienced the combined joy and terror of that knowledge, the knowledge that if you follow through with this insanity it could be the best decision you’ve ever had… or the absolute worst? If you have, then you know intimately how I felt the other day when the accessibility of the entire world humbled me, and got me thinking.
Seeing as how you may (or may not) know me, here’s a little backstory: There was once a little girl who grew up always wanting to be a doctor. She worked hard her whole life (or didn’t work hard; it depends to whom you direct that question) and made it to the big scary world of McMaster University. As it does for most people in university, life became less black and white, and more of a confusing array of greys. In order to try and figure things out, she decided she needed a change of scenery. Now, this may seem very brave to those of you reading this, but running away to the UK to “study” for a year at The University of Leeds, really was easier than trying to actually figure anything out.
It turns out that this rash decision (well, as rash as a decision that takes at least 4 months of planning can be) was the best decision she could have made. It gave her perspective, a newfound sense of self, and a whole whack of experiences that most people can’t even dream of. She was the luckiest girl in the whole wide world. Even more than that, she made tons of friends, saw and experienced several different cultures, had many adventures and misadventures, and found a new passion for working in theatre. She returned to Canada to finish her studies, but she had left a little piece of her heart in the many hostels, train stations, airports, bus stations, fields, and couches she had called home.
Though determined through sheer stubbornness to get her biology degree, her new focus lay in the mysterious world of theatre (and the lesser-known art of stage management – shout out to my fellow SMs). So, expensive piece of paper in hand, she moved back to Toronto to ignore what she had studied and began to make a name for herself. She got to work on some amazing shows, work with some amazing people, and gather experiences to continue to enrich her life.
But then the dreaded villain Real Life stepped in, and with reason and logic that no one could oppose, directed our heroine to an idea she had been running from since she stepped onto that campus with her dreams in hand, several years back. Real Life caused her to have a quarter-life crisis. For those of you who have experienced this, you’ll know that it can’t be easily solved with a flashy car or a trophy spouse. This crisis is one of self-doubt, insecurity, and absolute confusion. Every idea seems at once possible and impossible; attainable and totally out of reach.
At the prospect of changing your entire life goal (for the second time), having no security blanket, and no end goal in sight, many would cower. But our heroine didn’t cower and let Real Life get her down, or at least not for very long. It was in this state of desperate panic that the flash of an insane idea came. An idea so crazy, it just might work!
(If you haven’t already guessed, the heroine in the story is yours truly.)
Have you ever wanted to unveil something by pulling a sheet off of it and yelling “Voila”? Well I have, and now is my chance. So help me out a bit by imagining a sheet covering an unknown item of indeterminate size and shape. Got that in your mind? Great. Now on the count of three... One… Two… Three… Voila! What, you still don’t know what it is?
I am going to travel the world (or as much of it as I can get to on little to no money). This is me, turning around and flipping the bird at Real Life. If you’ll join me, I promise you can live vicariously through me. Through the exhilarating highs of the actual travel itself, and the fury and frustration of the planning phase. I can use all the support I can get as I set off to plan this ridiculous endeavor, and most importantly, I want all of your input. I’ll keep you updated on my progress, as long as you promise to give me tips on where to go, what to see, and how I can do it for free (or mostly free).
Let’s all join together and put off Real Life for just a little while longer, and pretend like this is a great way to figure it all out (who are we kidding, this is just awesome, nothing else). And away we go!
