It's Kind of a Big Deal

This might sound dumb, but today I was reminded just how big of a deal this trip is. Not just for me personally, as a huge dream becoming reality, but just as an experience in general.

Because of the research I've done and the people I've come to "know" through Twitter and blogs, I guess I've become a bit desensitized to just how incredible this opportunity is. Sure, I know it, and feel it in through the money saved and time spent planning, etc, but over the past year I've developed a sort of online community filled with people who are living our dream of extended travel. Not just one or two, but hundreds of people. These people have been my inspiration when things were hard, and made me feel normal for dreaming this dream and taking the necessary steps to make this thing happen.

Yet today I realized that though they've made me feel that this isn't crazy or uncommon, following them so much has also blinded me to some of the magnitude of our long term journey ahead. The idea of extended travel has become almost commonplace to me because I see these tweets and blogs from around the world every day. And four months? That's nothing to these people who've left everything and have been gone for years with no plans to stop!

I'm not even sure what caused this breakthrough today, but I did talk to several different people about our trip over the course of the day who didn't know much about what we are doing. I guess their positive, awed reactions one after another might have sparked something in me.

I'm glad I was able to gain this renewed perspective that was based on other people's reactions-the thing I had feared most about this journey from the beginning. It is helping me remember the significance of this experience and prevent me from comparing our journey to anyone else's.

mage: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

T-minus 24 days...!