“Why are you doing this?” my grandfather asks of me. “You have a good job, you save money, you buy house, find good girl, get married and have children. This is what you do, not this quit work and fly to South America.” I smile and laugh as he asks this of me and then questions everyone in my family as to why they are letting me do this crazy thing.

To me, our experiences define us. Our memories are who we are and shape us into the people we become. It’s these memories that slow down our illusion of time. It’s about looking back on the previous years and not thinking “Damn, where did those years go?” but rather knowing exactly where they went with vivid clarity and a large database of pictures.

You don’t need to travel the world to do it (just the avenue I chose), it’s about just doing anything worth that precious space in your mind. It can be playing soccer with your kid in the backyard, taking a chance on a new restaurant or driving out to the lake, opening up a bottle of wine with someone special and giggling endlessly while bouncing up and down on a teeter-totter.

It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying work because I certainly was. The friends I made there will last a life time and the hilarious times we all had and millions of never dying inside jokes will stay with me forever, but what more the world can offer?   What do you feel gazing over the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Pichu as the sun creeps over the mountain horizon? How much work is required to live on an organic farm in New Zealand? What stories from far away places can a new friend share over a beer in Vietnam?

How could I ever know without trying? Life is about experiences that create pleasurable memories upon reflection, and if they’re not pleasant memories then you use the memories to know what to avoid or to learn from and turn a potential bad experiance into a good one.

Sure I could stay at work and still be happy, but the vast number of experiences I could get from travelling around the world is incredible. How can I possibly not do it when I follow this philosophy?

Life is fleeting, the world is continually changing and if right now I’m able to do this I really feel I should. It’s scary as hell especially when I haven’t done the planning or research I normally do to make major decisions, but that’s also part of the excitement of it. It’s pushing my own boundaries and expanding my own capabilities. It’s forcing me to grow in ways I can’t yet imagine.

As I write this on the bus to the airport, I think of everyone I’m leaving behind. My friends, my family, the people I love. My eyes water knowing I won’t see them all for a while. Will they all still be the same people when I return? Who will change, who will be the same? How will I have changed to them?

I don’t know the answers, but I’m dammed excited to find out