COURAGE MONTH: DAY 25: “I know that life is a doorway to eternity, and yet my heart so often gets lost in petty anxieties. It forgets the great way home that lies before it.”― Sophie Scholl
When I was in my teens, I spent those years hitch-hiking all over this country and then in Europe and India. It was scary at first, but I developed really good skills for creating safety for myself.
I was blessed because it was a time when people were traveling like that and a lot of nice people gave me rides where they were going. I had no real idea of where I wanted to travel. I just kept going. I became braver and more courageous as I went. So many people told me that they wished they had just taken time to travel when they were young, because they got married, had families, went to work in careers that kept them working for the rest of their lives.
I have not had the opportunity to meet many people who ever advised me to be cautious, to take fewer risks in life and love or travel or anything. Those who do are not the people whose lives I want to emulate. The ones who are have had adventures and done so many things. I am grateful for the rebels in this world who showed me how to keep moving and discovering and living and loving, even when it seemed scary or did not look like others thought it should.
I did most of the things people regret NOT doing when I was young. I travelled, I broke laws and did things that went against all the rules in those days. I was lucky because I did not get caught and did not get killed. And I have great stories of the adventures I got to have.
These are life choices we make. I knew I did not want to get married or have children, so I got to do the things that fed my spirit at that time. I still do. Well, not the law-breaking stuff. That was over quite some time ago. No future there. But I do have a life that goes way outside the lines, and I love it. Not because I am particularly courageous, but anything else just doesn’t feed my soul. I am grateful for not living into the “petty anxieties” that others are so busy with. I have always known that life should be more of an adventure and deep learning.
Dolphin Hug 