LeAvE tHe CaLm WaTeRs

“Suck it up, you can do this. It’s not a big deal. Even if you get lost…you’ll figure it out, you always do!” That's my requisite pep talk to myself every time I’m about to venture into an unfamiliar place by myself, well more accurately a foreign country. I mean, I like it. Full of that nervous excitement, the trepidation of a new place… thinking, “can I handle it? Will I survive?” But more importantly, will I survive and enjoy it?

But then I remember that stirring quote by Mark Twain--the father of all unknown adventures-- and I know I'll be okay:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream.
DISCOVER.

A few years ago, a friend give me a notebook with that quote on it. Are you surprised I made it my goal book? :)