Conceptual Paths

Last week, I gave notice at my work. My last day will be February 7th. On March 3rd I am getting on a plane headed west, and I will return from the other direction four months later.

In other words, I quit my job and I am traveling around the world.

Here are some of the emotions I’m feeling:
-Excited
-Terrified
-Exuberant
-Grateful
-Happy

I have a lot more to say and write about in the weeks and months to come, and I’m planning on blogging a lot from the road. For now though, I just wanted to share the news. I also want to say how incredibly thankful I am for the way my friends and family have reacted to this adventure. I would not be as comfortable taking this leap (or might not have taken it at all) without the love and support from the amazing people in my life. They could not possibly be more excited or supportive, and I am so grateful for them.

I’ll leave you with some quotes that have inspired me to take this leap.

“Decisions are a way of defining ourselves. There comes a time in life when there is nothing else to do but go your own way. Where you are headed there are no trails, no paths, just your own instincts.”
—Sergio Bambaren

“My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been before.”
-Diane Arbus

“There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction.”
-Franz Kafka

“Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”
-Guy Finley

“We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
-Joseph Campbell

“Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path.”
-Steve Jobs

It always seemed that the only way to live without regrets, was just to never regret anything you did.
-Welcome to Night Vale episode 15

“Most people are living in a cage with the door wide open.”
-George Lucas

“We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh

“There is only your own pair of wings and the pathless sky.”
-Tagore

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
-Roald Dahl

“What you seek is seeking you.”
-Rumi

“There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such things for yourself.”
-Lemony Snicket

“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.”
-Kierkegaard

“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that death will tremble to take us.”
-Charles Bukowski

“Hope and curiosity about the future seemed better than guarantees. The unknown was always so attractive to me … and still is.”
-Hedy Lamarr

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
-Anais Nin

“You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.”
-Annie Dillard

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
-T. S. Eliot

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
-George Addair

“It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
-Ursula K. Le Guin

“If you go as far as you can see, you will then see enough to go even farther.”
-John Wooden

“There is no denying the wild horse in us.”
-Virginia Woolf

“When you have trouble making up your mind, just do what you’ll wish you’d have done when you are 80.”
-Anne Shirley

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The title of this post is from a song that helped give me the courage to do this.