Desert Paradise

I made it to Arizona!  Traveling always exceeds my expectations in the best of ways.  This trip proved no different when my mental image was brought to reality.  It was more beautiful and warm than I had imagined.  Even after a short trip, I feel changed by this experience.

Over the last year of my life, I have taken chances that I never predicted for myself.  My comfort zone has transformed from a space into more of a mental state.  Instead of decorating my house, I have begun to decorate my life with experiences.  As a traveler, I bring back souvenirs in the form of stories and new friendships.  The more of these I make, the more I wish to collect.  While some of these friendships may only last for the length of a layover or the span of a day, I cherish them in my heart.  Another important lesson I've learned through travel is that most people want companionship, be it sharing the clues of a crossword puzzle to pass the hours in a seat on a plane or chatting over coffee on the porch of a hostel.  Every time I travel, I set out alone, yet very rarely end up actually being lonely along the way.

My nervous anticipation has become as familiar as an old friend.  I wonder if I will ever lose that tingle that washes over me when I am headed for someplace I have never been.  Each time my bags are packed and I'm headed out the driveway, it emerges from somewhere within me and crawls across my skin.  Instead of feeling fearful, though, I can now associate this familiar emotion with excitement.  On my first few trips away from home, I was nearly paralyzed by the thought of the unknown creeping through me.  I can now compare it to the anxiousness that used to accompany the first day of school or moving into my dorm in college.  Stifling this is like attempting to halt inevitability.  It just won't happen.  I embrace it and recognize the feeling for what it is now; a mental facade that can either hold me back or propel me forward.

While I was in Arizona, I had the opportunity to take a rock climbing course.  The day of the course, that familiar nervous itch was spreading across my being and I was doubting my ability to even show up.  I focused my courage, though, and headed to the rocks.  I hate being the beginner at anything and climbing, especially so.  I struggle with the thought of failure or making a mistake, but these things are simply a part of learning how to climb (not to mention the huge mental barriers that need breaking while I'm up there).  Luckily, my instructor was incredibly understanding of this nervousness and his encouragement was welcomed as I climbed my way up my first multi-pitch route.  I have less of a fear of falling than I do of failing.  So, the feeling of elation as I reached the top was unlike any other feeling of success.  I had pushed my boundaries physically and, especially, mentally.  Not only was I climbing, but I was entrusting a complete stranger to keep me safe, along with being in a new place quite far from my family and friends.  Once it was all 'scend and done (I think I'm punny), I couldn't have been more happy with myself for taking the chance to experience this.

The next day, I was off to see the Grand Canyon.  What I had envisioned as a solo road trip from Phoenix turned out to be a long ride accompanied by a complete stranger.  She was staying in the bunk below me at the Phoenix Hostel and had nothing to do on the day of my trip.  I welcomed the companionship and brought along a woman twice my age who had never seen the Grand Canyon, either.  It's amazing how easily conversation flows with like-minded people.  By the end of the day, the wonder of the canyon was less intriguing to me than listening to her stories of working in the Peace Corps.  As we drove across Arizona's many varying (and breathtaking) landscapes, I learned all about her life.  We didn't even turn the radio on once.

As I travel, I collect pieces of all of the people I encounter.  I jot down things I notice about everyone from the cashier at a coffee shop to the woman I spent the day exploring the Grand Canyon with, whom I may never see or speak to again.  The personalities, stories and opinions of other people have become a precious resource and its abundance has me anxious to venture further.  The more people I meet from all sorts of different places only opens my eyes wider to the infinite paths a life can take.  We each are a culmination of the choices that lead us in certain directions.  Choosing to pursue my dreams of seeing so many different places has become, not only about the geography, but about the characters that fill my life story; not only about the vastness of the world, but that of humanity.  These are the people who fertilize my ambitions and help me grow to reach horizons I have not yet imagined.  I owe so much to the people I have met along the way and most of them don't even know the impact they have left on someone else's life.

So, remember, you never know if you're the subject of someone else's journal entry.