Get Busy Living, or Get Busy Dying....

     I am sure many people aren't aware that I am doing this, so for some it may be a little eye opening.  I wish I could have the exact moment down to the second of when I made the decision, but subconsciously it has been brewing in my mind for months, maybe even years.  In early March 2011, I will be packing up my VW with all of my worldly belongings (that will fit) and heading West.  My destination is California, as cliche as it may be.  Unlike some of my brothers who ventured there before me, it is not because I am in need of the ocean or warm weather.  What I need is a fresh perspective on my life.  So many old, wise people have insisted I live my life to the fullest and do everything that makes me happy while I still can.  I mainly shrugged off the comments as a unrealistic dream they never could achieve they chose to project on to me.  But I found it hard to look at myself in the mirror and know I was living life to the fullest.

     So I did all of the "right" things.  I went to college, got a degree, and eventually took a corporate job in the area, inevitably setting myself up for a secure existence with the comfort of home.  I noticed quickly that comfort is hard to achieve when your life is mirroring the movie "Groundhog Day".  The same area, the same town, the same store, the same room, the same bed.....the same.  I had sucked all of the joy out of my homestead when I was younger, and I quickly discovered there was none left to sustain a happy, and more importantly, fulfilling, life here.  

     I know some of the reactions I will get to this choice.  Some will scoff at the decision as unrealistic and an impending failure; while others will look at it with envy, as a decision they would make too if not for "insert job-money-family-kids-security, here".  Either are right, it's all in your own perspective.  The only thing I know is that if I didn't do it, I would be inevitably looking back on this moment in my life and wondering "what if"....maybe for the first time in my life I can answer that question....

"I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope...." - The Shawshank Redemption