Nothing is worse than the realization that you’re not living your life to its full potential. The feeling of regret and disappointment as your heart sinks makes you believe that you can never change the life you have laid out for yourself, but it is at this moment that you can choose whether or not to change your destiny to something great, or leave it and live a life of regret.
As I sit there at my boring office job I stare into my computer, my brain doesn’t even work to complete the tasks laid out in front of me. Yes I am successfully gaining the money I need to live but for some reason as I get a text from my friend and look into the beautiful image I had received from her trip to Japan I feel full of shame. If you were to scroll through our previous texts you would notice all of the adventure in her life while I have only stayed in Michigan, stuck doing this boring office job day after day. My head drops and suddenly although I am successful and worked hard to get my placement, I feel as though I have nothing. After minutes of pondering and questioning what to do I finally take my hands from my keyboard, stand up and walk out with my head held high and proud. This is the only moment in my life where I have felt unsure what I plan on doing but so certain that it was the right thing to do
“Liv, I don’t know where I plan on going but meet me at my house as soon as possible if you want to join.” I call my best friend with that lone comment as I nearly run home in hopes that she will join me on my adventures. Once I get home I pack anything I may need in my car and when Liv pulls up she does the same. It’s time for some adventure, roadtrip to who knows where and who knows when we will return but I’ve never been so confident in a decision in my entire 25 years of life.
My car filled with blankets and games as we start our trip, I turn down onto the highway heading South and we begin the journey. The music blasts, the wind blows through the sunroof, as Liv and I sing at the top of our lungs in excitement for our hopefully incredible journey.
Hours into the drive we come up to a place with roller coasters and games all around. We decide that this will be our first stop. We hop out of the car and nearly run to the line at which we get our tickets and enter the park. Liv grabs my hand and takes me to the first real roller coaster I will go on. Staring up at this death trap I realize what I had done, I had dropped all of my success and family in Michigan to come to some theme park with rides that can kill me. I stop and bring my attention to Liv, she smiles and says
“Oh come on, we’ve come this far! The trip has just begun don’t wimp out now.” She grabs my hand and tugs me onto the ride. Incredible. The wind whipped through my hair as I flip upside down and sideways. I scream as Liv laughs beside me. The ride comes to an end and many hours later the day comes to end also. We go back to the car and sleep in it overnight with millions of blankets and pillows all surrounding us. Surprisingly it wasn’t too rough of a night.
Morning soon comes and we set off once again, making random stops along the way either for a park or museum, or even in the middle of nowhere because the view was just too beautiful to pass up.
Eventually we find ourselves just outside of Washington D.C. and decide to make one more stop at a nearby park. The weather was a great temperature for a hike so that’s what we planned on doing. We find a path in the back of the park and go down it with no expectations, which seems to be the theme of this entire trip. As we walk through the trees and scenery we stop in our tracks to admire what lays ahead. A great waterfall right before us with a wooden path for us to cross. Step by step I go, looking at every inch of the view to get the full experience. Listening to the splash of the water and the whirlwind around me I feel at home, although it was my first time experiencing such an incredible trip.
In this moment I begin to think once again, this is what I love and who I want to be with but eventually I must go back to my boring job listening to the keys typing instead of the breathtaking nature of this waterfall. I stop thinking because that’s what got me that job in the first place, planning ahead for my life while I would much rather focus on just this moment.
Once the hike is over we decide that we must head back due to homesickness and lack of money. So we return home with sadness yet with great memories and stories to tell. Back to the repetition of everyday life and the horrible job and future I have set out for myself.
Months later as I’m typing once again in the terribly uncomfortable seat at my everyday job I get a call. I gradually look over and see Liv’s name displayed on my phone and a picture from our great adventure.
“I don’t know where I’m going but meet me at my house if you want to join,” she laughs as I pick up. Excited I respond quickly and turn off my computer.
“I’m on my way!” I hang up and run out of the office like that first day and meet Liv right afterwards.
Now to this day whenever we need a little bit of adventure, whether it’s to the movies or Europe, we use that line because no matter what we do we always want the other by our side.