Sorry it has been a while since I've updated my blog. I've actually written several but didn't feel like they were very good haha.
It is surreal that I am leaving for launch in less than a week. I leave for Atlanta on the 6th and will fly out to Guatemala on the 10th. My bag is just about packed and last minute paperwork is complete. I have $3,525 to raise before December to meet my next deadline and $8,025 to raise to be fully funded. Thank you so much to my financial and prayer supporters :)!
These past few weeks have been so full of trip preparation, work and fun that the fact that I'm actually leaving home for the first time for a year hasn't had a chance to sink in until recently. My last shift at the restaurant I've worked at for three years was Thursday, and I've been scheduling goodbyes all week.
The feeling reminds me of the first time I went to Econfina Springs (an awesome place to canoe and swim near where I live.) There is this one spring that is surrounded by steep, 10-foot-high cliffs that, of course, everyone jumps off from into the spring. It looked like fun from the safety of my docked kayak, but once I climbed to the top and inched my way onto the tree branched which served as a diving board, with the pressure of my friends behind me and what looked like eminent death in front of me (Dramatic? Nahh.), I felt the restraints of mild panic wrap themselves around my ankles, preventing me from jumping.
Now I am here, where I can see that everything in my life will soon change, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous or sad to say goodbye to everyone. The excitement of the incredible, far away adventure has been tarnished by apprehension as launch approaches.
Yet underneath the fragile layers of sadness and anxiety, there is a great peace which comes from the confidence I have in God's plan for me. This peace is stronger than any fear I have. I don't know everything that will happen on the World Race (Well, actually I don't know anything that will happen), but I know that great things will come from this trip.
Years ago when I found myself shakily clinging my toes to a tree branch above a spring, I let the fear paralyze me for a moment. But once I finally shook off the anxiety and jumped, it was so much fun I took the leap over and over. I was glad to overcome my fear then, and I am glad that my peace will prevail today.
So, in conclusion, YOLO …jk.
Has anyone else overcome a fear like that (heights, sharks, spiders… bears)?
