(Photo by © Brandon Elijah Scott / Eye & Pen)
“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.” –Dawna Markova
For ages, you’ve obsessed with changing your lifestyle. Complacent and unhappy feelings have washed over you for months, even years now. It’s common for you to wake up in a sweat from nightmares that haunt your dreams, taunting you with realizations that you’re on track to live an ordinary, inexperienced, and unexciting life. During the days, the flare of the sun reminds you that the sun shines in other, more interesting places around the world. A fulfilling life, away from the norm is all you want, and you can feel it aching in your bones. The lust of travel and adventure pulse within your veins, accompanied by stabs of fear and inadequacy. Then you think to yourself, ‘But why am I so afraid? What’s the worst that could happen? Is fear a quality gift, paid for in full by my life unlived?”
It’s been over a year since I sold of EVERY SINGLE little, minuscule and unimportant thing in my life. I had been plagued for years with the fears of wasting my precious time of my ONE AND ONLY life. I felt complacent in my work, and I felt thoroughly unhappy in my daily routines – I knew that I HAD to make a change NOW! So with a little research and planning, and luck, I gave myself one month to make the switch to living a new life abroad. I began selling all of my materialistic possessions and arranged to quit my job, to leave my apartment and to go – just go, far away from all I’ve ever known. I packed a bag with my clothes, toiletries and computer, and I packed up and sold off the life I knew and built.
I can say now that it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life; however, this life is not for everyone. The constant changing, from place to place, never quite comfortable is not perfect for everyone. But for me, it’s just right – it makes me feel alive. Forcing myself out of my tiny, little, boxed-in comfort zone is the best thing I’ve done for myself. It’s easy to settle and accept a comfortable life – but one of the beauties of life is in the maturation of one’s growth through their personal journey.
As a closing thought... If you can relate, and recognize that pained feeling that you have as fear (the feeling that’s keeping you from living YOUR life as YOU please), then I hope I’ve inspired and awoken you from a mundane and mind-numbing existence.
It’s been over a year since I sold of EVERY SINGLE little, minuscule and unimportant thing in my life. I had been plagued for years with the fears of wasting my precious time of my ONE AND ONLY life. I felt complacent in my work, and I felt thoroughly unhappy in my daily routines – I knew that I HAD to make a change NOW! So with a little research and planning, and luck, I gave myself one month to make the switch to living a new life abroad. I began selling all of my materialistic possessions and arranged to quit my job, to leave my apartment and to go – just go, far away from all I’ve ever known. I packed a bag with my clothes, toiletries and computer, and I packed up and sold off the life I knew and built.
I can say now that it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life; however, this life is not for everyone. The constant changing, from place to place, never quite comfortable is not perfect for everyone. But for me, it’s just right – it makes me feel alive. Forcing myself out of my tiny, little, boxed-in comfort zone is the best thing I’ve done for myself. It’s easy to settle and accept a comfortable life – but one of the beauties of life is in the maturation of one’s growth through their personal journey.
As a closing thought... If you can relate, and recognize that pained feeling that you have as fear (the feeling that’s keeping you from living YOUR life as YOU please), then I hope I’ve inspired and awoken you from a mundane and mind-numbing existence.
(This piece was written by Brandon Elijah Scott and originally published by HostelsClub)
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