Parting Words From the Wandering Road

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” -G.K Chesterton

     Some people want adventure to find them but hesitate once the opportunity arises. The thing about adventure is that it will only find you so many times, after a while you'll have to go out and find it yourself.

Some claim finding adventure is comparable to finding love but I disagree (to an extent). Love is fickle and the moment you stop looking, there it is. But adventure is always ready to be found. It's in every handshake, across a body of water, down every road, even under every stone.

Looking for it is easy enough but recognizing the potential outcomes is tricky at first and once you find out how it works you will find yourself in a daily routine of adventurous behavior.

This inevitably leads to a moment when you're lined up to have a fantastic adventure that will change you in more ways than you could ever hope. This is the story of one of mine, as it happens.
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     Over a year ago two of my friends decided they would take an adventurous leap and spend 6 months in Antarctica to work in a science facility known as McMurdo Station. The idea was enticing

but my life wasn't suited to support such a leap. I passed on the opportunity and anxiously awaited their return to hear about life on the ice.

I will admit, part of me wanted to hear bad things. Hearing that it was miserable and, "not worth the time." would have made the decision easier. It would have meant that I would stay in a safe city where I was familiar with the various dangers and surrounded by friends to keep me safe. Life would have continued but I would have the lingering thought of, "What if..."

But this wasn't the case whatsoever. My friends returned and they said they loved it! They were just back and already preparing for their next journey to Antarctica. This threw my life into question and I began planning to go, fully knowing that I could back out at anytime if I didn't want to go.

But once again, that wasn't the case.

I began the application process and started learning a lot about the program. With every word I read I began to realize that this was exactly what my life needed; an adventure. But not just any kind of adventure. A 6 month long, fantastic adventure.

The application was long and arduous but I will admit, I'm a procrastinator. Removing this trait would have made the process fast and easy but putting things off will make it stressful and make you question if it's all worth it. Luckily, once I told my friend that I would go this year she was very intent on making it so. She emailed and called me on a regular basis to make sure I was getting things done (Big ups Erin!).

And despite her efforts I still managed to complete the process days before leaving. Once it's done there is something peaceful about everything you do from then on. There are still nerves involving the departure and the looming idea that you will be living in a dorm on the bottom of the Earth for half of a year. Unfortunately, it's also the more "important" months as well. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years will be spent away from family and friends in a foreign part of the world with people you've only just met.

The thing about adventure is that most of it is outside of your personal comfort. It makes you look at everything in a different way and by doing so it makes you appreciate everything up until this point. Even before you leave you begin to appreciate all of the people and things you won't see for the next while. Before departing I found myself walking around saying, "This is the last time I'll eat here in the foreseeable future." "I'm gonna miss walking by this building everyday." And, "That's the last time I'll be able to puke in this bar for a while."

But sacrifices must be made to progress positively in the world.