I guess you could say I’ve always been an adventurous person. Not adventurous in the sense that I spend my summers traveling through Europe or weekends hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but more so in the sense that I have never been one to think twice about trying out strange and colorful experiences. This could be attributed to what some people call foolishness or just plain thoughtlessness, but I like to think of it as confidence and free-spiritedness. I say it is what’s led me to the point I am at right now.
And as I greet the year ahead of me with huge expectation, not knowing at all whether this expectation will be met, I continue to look back at my countless encounters with family, friends, strangers, and even nature and realize that every conversation I’ve ever had, friend I have made, or loss I have grieved has all accounted for the person I am today. For better or worse these engagements have only affirmed my belief that as a people, I–we–are mountains of reactions and potential waiting for the next brush to strike in order to adjust and grow. Luckily I’ve had a life full of great, and not so great, experiences that have molded my being into this modified version of adventure, preparing me in some unknown way for Brazil.
It’s definitely a strange feeling to be so eager to be hit with any form of dilemma or plight in the coming year, so ready to take one of my many guaranteed mistakes and run with it, adding experience and wisdom to my ever-growing tool belt that is life experience. But at the same time it’s reassuring knowing it is my adventurous past that has prepared me for this.
