St. Augustine once said "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." I've been thinking a lot about this quote lately as I, along with my little family, gear up for the adventure of a lifetime (perhaps only such a big adventure for a young, small-town family, but an adventure nonetheless!)
In three short weeks, we will catch a red-eye flight to Japan, where we will live for a year while Casey teaches English at the American Kindergarten in Miyasaki. Boy-oh-boy, am I nervous! We both realize that this will be an experience unlike any we have ever had before.
It has been a fascinating experience in itself to tell others about our plans to take up residence somewhere halfway around the world in the coming months. Reactions range from "Wow good for you! What an adventure!" to "You are insane. I would never do that." And surprisingly, the latter response is much more common, which has led us to question our own sanity and the reasons for this response.
We have come to the conclusion that many individuals simply do not want to leave the "comfort zone" of their current lifestyles. Comfort is, well, comfortable (and who willingly asks to become otherwise? Well, apparently we do!) As we've talked about our newest adventure, we have found that it really just comes down to what we (and others) value in life. Casey and I have decided that while having a comfortable, "settled," traditional lifestyle is nice, it cannot offer us the educational experiences that travel can. After all, what is the good of having this world and all its different cultures, peoples, and wonders if they are not to be explored? An individual who refuses to go out of his or her "comfort zone" can, as St. Augustine so eloquently states "read only one page" of the vast "book" of the world.
As we embark on this journey, we feel a bit like Bilbo Baggins who suggested that adventures are "uncomfortable" and "disturbing things." And we believe he was probably right; We will get "outside ourselves" and our culture we take for granted, which will likely make us question the lifestyles and ideas we have always seen as a "given." But it is only through meeting others unlike ourselves that we come to have a more complete view of the world (as Casey always says.)
As the ever-genius Mark Twain commented "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
So...here we go! We are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. We are ready to explore Japan and all it has to offer and discover more about its people and ourselves in the process. And while it may be uncomfortable at first, we are ecstatic to learn more about this vast, fascinating world around us.
We will keep you updated on our adventures!
