About five years ago, I bought a plane ticket to Costa Rica and sat down with my boss to tell him I was taking a month of vacation from work.
“No you’re not.” He said.
“Yes, I am.” I told him.
*very long pause*
“No you’re not.” He continued. “You have two weeks of paid vacation
that you’ve already used. This is THE most critical time for this
company. It is unfathomable that you take leave right now. Maybe in six
months we can consider some extended vacation. But right now?
Absolutely impossible.”
I went to Costa Rica. And when
I returned from that life-altering adventure my boss said, “Well. You
were right. Everything worked out smoothly, and looking back now, there
was NO better time that you could have taken leave.” (Of course, at the
time, neither of us was expecting that month abroad to inspire my
complete resignation and the purchase of open-ended ticket to
adventure…)
Regardless, I think it was that
confrontational day that my self-erected wall of "life rules" came
crashing down, along with the authority in the words "impossible",
"unfathomable", "absolutely" and "no."
There are so many
rules of life that we just never question and simply subscribe to. We
have so many freedoms that we never exercise simply because we've never
tugged at the phantom-chains that bind them. Of course, the first time
I challenged those rules, the notion seemed nothing but comical...
“Ha! Imagine what my boss would say if I just bought a ticket to Costa Rica and left for a month!”
“How crazy would it be for me to just quit my job and travel for a year! What a dream!”
“What a silly thought…me? A scuba divemaster? I could never be a divemaster. I can barely swim.”
"How could I ever work as a photographer? I don't know ANYTHING about photography!"
"I could never spend two months walking 700 miles across Spain!"
OR…Could I?
The
first time “I could never” turned into “hell! I just did!” -- life
irreversibly changed. Why? Because for one, I figured out that this
world, this society, this system, didn’t REALLY care about my
individual life. I had broken “the rules” and the gates of hell did not
open and consume me, I wasn’t arrested and sent to jail, my parents
didn’t ground me, my friends didn’t disown me, and my boss didn’t fire
me. I had slipped right through the societal-cracks and landed on two
free feet!
My “silly notions,” “dreams” if you may, were
perfectly real and attainable -- and I had every right in this world to
move my free feet and take pursuit of them. Now I take my “silly ideas”
more seriously than Newton’s laws of physics. They STILL always start
off as laughable, but now that the pattern has been recognized, my
giggles quickly transition to a grin and a “oh no, here it comes!”
nervous anticipation of an oncoming challenge. Now I know -- and can
recognize -- my most wild but "serious intentions" masquerading in the
sheeps' wools of "silly notions."
So in December of
2000, at age 23, I resigned from my position as Senior Editor at
CollegeClub.com and bought an open-ended ticket to Guatemala, whereupon
MercuryFrog posed the following “comical” question:
“Why don’t I build you a site so that you can write about your
adventures and share them with your online community as you experience
them?”
My laugh quickly turned into a serious grin.
Solbeam.com was born in January of 2001 by the kindness and talent of MercuryFrog.
(Merc is both the developer and designer of this site, and compliments
should be sent directly to him.) It should also be noted that Merc is
continuously and selflessly facilitating the dream chasing process for
numerous individuals *beside myself* and that he has secured his place
in the “Solbeam’s Exceptional Human Beings” Hall of Fame.
And thank you also to Slava and ThinkHost.com
for swooping a silent hand into my life, in a perfect act of altruistic
kindness, to support the website and fanciful aspirations of a perfect
stranger.
I consider the two of you as nothing less than my guardian angels.
Since January of 2001, those of you watching solbeam.com have adventured with me through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, The Dominican Republic, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, China, India, Ecuador, Colombia, Sikkim, Nepal, and Tibet
together. We learned Spanish and how to salsa together. We scuba dived
off Cayes, in oceans, through Cenotes and into sink holes together. We
chased sharks and stingrays together. We learned to bartend and danced
on tabletops together. We were robbed at gunpoint together. We raved on
bay islands together. We battled with hairy spiders, sand flies, lice
and scorpions together. We volunteered with children of a dumpster
community together. We mediated and fasted at a retreat center
together. We hiked volcanoes and watched them erupt together. We got on
wrong planes together. We rock climbed together and we boogie-boarded
together. We caught Ameobas and suffered numerous colds and mysterious
skin infections together. We taught English and escaped monsoons
together. We got in motorbike and car accidents together. We rode
elephants and got attacked by baby monkeys together. We worked
tirelessly at Club Med together. We walked 700 miles of the Camino de
Santiago together. We saved turtles and learned to surf together. We
hiked through the Himalayas together. We were adopted into a Colombian
family together. We fell in love with India together. We discovered a
passion for Eastern philosophy and spirituality together. We watched
the stars and pondered at our place in the Universe together. And we
shared multiple sunrises and sunsets together.
You laughed
with me. You cried with me. You danced with me. You learned with me.
You supported me and you believed in me. I give my ENDLESS thanks to
all those of you who keep up with this site and have shared these
experiences and emotions with me. Because IT is the only physical thing
I have to grasp onto after returning from these adventures. How I could
ever give any inch of accurate representation of my travels abroad
"over coffee" is inconceivable. "You just had to be there" will have to
suffice many inquisitions...but for those of you who WERE there, WITH
me, my mind can smile and sigh in relief. I'm not so alone after all. And for that ease of heart and mind, I have you to thank. I may live out of a backpack, but solbeam.com is my home. And you are my family.
