Road Less Traveled

I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I want to go places, and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big scale.

I've always been an extremely deep thinker. Thinking and interpreting things that not many people of my age care about. My thoughts have always been out of the ordinary for anyone who has a suburban mindset. From a very young age, I knew I wanted to take the road less traveled. I knew I didn't want to play anything safe.

I recently came across an outline for a novel that I wanted to write about 7 years ago… 7 years ago? Yes, I wanted to write a novel when I was 10 years old. The main character was a girl named Beth who was 18 years old. The further I got to reading, I realized that I had modeled Beth as the person who I wanted to be in the future. She was curious, endearing, smart, independent and strong. She wanted to travel across the world to study journalism in London… Reading the outline made me emotional because it made me realize that I have had the same dream for years, and now I'm finally trying to make that happen.

As leaving home is getting even closer, more and more people I know are starting to believe that I am genuinely crazy for wanting to pick up my whole life and move to another country. But, it always leaves me wondering why they think I'm so strange. When people ask me why I want to move, I always answer with the same thing, "Why the hell not? I want to explore and experience a different culture, meet new people and have new adventures."

If I wanted to be comfortable my whole life, then I wouldn't have experienced nearly half of the things I have in my life so far. I don't want to regret not taking chances. I want to see things that open my mind to the rest of the world. I don't want to play it safe and have a white-picket fence life. I want to have a crazy adventurous life where I never know what exciting thing is going to happen next.

My parents have always told me never to stop dreaming. And I always tell them, "Don't worry. I never will."

If you have something you have always wanted to do, go for it. There is a lot more regret in not trying than in trying.

xx
Ashley