January 5, 2015 – St. Paul, Minnesota

Knock, knock, knock.

My hands tremble slightly as my heart rate heightens. I’m at the door of my first host, and my mind is restless. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I can see her through the door; she’s with her three-year-old daughter in the kitchen. Deep breaths. Relax, Nick. A new feeling takes ahold of my body as she lets me in. Or maybe a new mixture of many feelings. Overwhelming the others, though, is sheer discomfort. In a good way. The best way. This is my new home. This is the beginning of my new life.

Just two months ago, my life was pretty “normal.” I had just returned from a month-long trip to Europe, and decided to spend a few months in California with some family there afterwards. One afternoon, I was helping my uncle move my cousin into her new apartment when my mom called to check up on me, as she does from time to time. We had a brief conversation, during which she joked about how much I travel. I remember joking back, “Yeah, you know…I think I’ll just start traveling around the country, spending a year in every state.” We all laughed, and then my uncle said, “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”

My mind instantly became infested by this idea. I was temporarily working at a factory, and I remember thinking endlessly about it. Would I be able to afford this lifestyle? What about my friends and family? Despite these and other valid concerns, the idea of a constantly morphing lifestyle excited me beyond belief. I will see and experience more than I ever dreamed.

Starting with this experience, here, now.

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” – Christopher McCandless