Over the last couple of weeks a lot of people have come to me asking “why”. Why are you going on this mission, why did you decide to do this…Why?
Well my easiest response to that is, why not? Where in reality my answer isn’t that simple.
All my life I have heard the questions: what do you want to be when you grow up, what do you want to do when you grow up? Well now at the age of 22, just when I should be “grown up”, graduating college, starting a career, moving forward with my life, I realized I still have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life….shocker right? How many people I meet in their 30s, 40s, and 50s that tell me they still don’t know what they want to do for the rest of their lives, yet society has been telling me since kindergarten, by now I should know.
Well I don’t….and I’m ok with that (well not really, but I’m working on it!)
So if I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life, why would I put myself in a career? What if it’s not for me? What if I hate it? While others put themselves on the track to a career they may not like, just to get ahead, or make money, to me I don’t see the point of it. Why be stuck in a position where you don’t see yourself in the future?
I have always dreamed of traveling the world. Already, I have been extremely lucky in the places I have gone and the people I met. But I want more. I want to see the world, and I want to make a difference in someone’s life. Enter The World Race. This is a mission trip that lets me explore the world while also being at the forefront of change in peoples lives. (I will be working in schools, churches, orphanages and much more) ….if I can’t change a life during those 11 months, I’m pretty much out of luck on that dream.
Well I know I will change at least one life…my own. That’s also why I want to go on this adventure. I am a creature of habit, I love my home, I like routine and I like my comfort zone. This last year through a breakup, many of these things I like so much were shaken. I realized I am always with people (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) and I’m always doing things to make other people happy (again not bad) But I need to be on my own, and its my time to be selfish (sorry but everybody gets to be selfish sometime!) I need to challenge myself in ways that I have never been challenged before. What better way to find out about yourself and challenge yourself than serving others in need and seeing the world!
While some people think what I’m doing is crazy or dangerous (which it is) and they think my time would be better spent here, starting my career and the rest of my life, I have a couple things to say.
- To me memories and experiences are way more valuable than any about of money. (Why make money now to say you will use it to “live” in the future, when you could be living now? How do you know you will be able to do the things you want in the future?)
- It is crazy, and it is dangerous. But does that mean I shouldn’t do it? If we live our lives in fear of the bad things that could happen, we will miss out on the amazing opportunities that arise.
- Hopefully this experience will help me determine what I want to do for the rest of my life so that when I come back I can be a real adult J
Hopefully that gave you some insight to the way my crazy brain thinks! As always if you wanna talk or have questions I’m here to talk!
