Stepping Off

The hardest parts of departing, the most nerve wracking and nail-biting times are the moments just before you decide to go.  Once the decision has been made, honestly and truly in your mind, the rest comes easy.  All your actions following that decision fall into line with the journey.  Working two jobs becomes justified because there is a light at the end of that tunnel.  Eating cup noodle once a day becomes justified because there is a light at the end of that tunnel. Spending hundreds of dollars on gear and plane tickets becomes justified because you are finally fulfilling that goal.  But those years, weeks, days and seconds before you make the decision to depart on a journey, those are the most painful.  The age old question rings true here: should I stay or should I go?  When Alan Sheppard strapped himself to a rocket for the first American spaceflight, he had to ask himself that question.  When Marco Polo traveled across Asia to see what could be seen, he asked himself that question.  When Zheng He sailed and explored the Indian Ocean, he asked himself that question.  When Amelia Earhart started up that plane to circumnavigate the globe, she asked herself that question. Humans have been asking themselves that questions for eons, and our greatest moments are those when we go.