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Tomorrow (April 9th) was supposed to be the start of my month and a half long road trip across the country, but the universe had other ideas. At the going away party my coworkers from Towson had thrown me at Michael’s Cafe in Timonium, a vest was liberated from my possession at some point in the night. Aside from my over indulgence in the finer distilled substances of this world, the vest was never more than 10′ away from me the entire night. I just don’t understand how someone “disappeared” it so quickly.

The unfortunate part of the story that arrives next(other than the loss of the relatively new Coleman vest) was that in that vest were my wallet and a backup smart phone. What a wrench to have thrown into the works. I’m sure there is a sage lesson in this somewhere, but right now I’m (literally) grasping at my obligatory millennial avocado toast attempting to figure out what I’m supposed to get out of this experience. Perhaps it’s for the best that this happened now, and not 1,500 miles into the road trip where it would be nearly impossible for me to get things back together.  One could also interpret this as a lesson in patience and forgiveness. Patience for yourself to allow for mistakes to happen and forgiveness to know that you can’t always do everything perfectly. As with many things millennial, we look (read: have to and should) for the positive things in every day events; sometimes it’s just harder.

Now, back to my avocado toast…

My first real blog post. Hmm. I’ll try to make it less 2006 Xanga.com and more…Something. How hard can it be?

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Fear is the reason we often choose inaction over change in our lives. Fear left unchecked will make choices for you. It takes away your ability to be who you are, who you want to be, and who you could become.

One of the things I’ve come to realize and have grown to accept recently is that I need to embrace that fear; to accept it like an old friend knocking at the door. Fear is not to be hidden from or ignored. Fear is rational, fear is your homo sapien brain letting you know that you are putting yourself at risk. Part of my evolution on the subject has been to use it as a sort of “tell” in life. That twinge I feel isn’t a tiger lurking in the bushes (metaphorical or not), it is a sign that I need to push on. One of my favorite quotes has always been, “…let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” (F.D. Roosevelt) This idea is what will drive me forward in the future, I don’t have a choice about time passing, but I do have a choice about what I do with it.

The only direction is forward.

Today I left my employer of nearly 10 years. I honestly wanted to say more about Towson and the impact it had on my life, but I think it would be boring and not really serve the mission I’m on now. All that needs saying is that it was time to move on. Next, I embark on a road-trip across the States into the(almost) unknown , I plan to make stops in: Chapel Hill, NC | St. Louis, MO | Austin, TX | Albuquerque, NM | (Maybe) Boulder, CO | Zion National Park | The Grand Canyon | (Maybe) San Diego, CA | San Francisco, CA | Point Reyes National Seashore | Yosemite National Park | Portland, OR | Seattle, WA

I’m excited for the adventure, hopefully you can follow along with me as I chase it. I don’t know what I will end up doing, where I will end up doing it, or how for that matter. Thoughts, suggestions, or reactions are welcome. Don’t hesitate to reach out, time is fleeting, connections are good.

See you on the road.

Mike