Day One on the Road

I've been waiting a long time for today. Since summit night on Kilimanjaro back in February, to be exact. I had a weird epiphany that night. It was cold and blowing pretty hard, and I was tired from being awake for 24 hours. But somewhere in the darkness below Stella Point, I realized that not only was I going to make it to the summit--but that I had a lot more in the tank. As we climbed, I started thinking about this in terms of other areas of my life. I asked myself--what else am I leaving on the table in terms of my health, photography, speaking, and relationships? How much more could I accomplish if I actually went all in?

I took this mindset back from Tanzania with me. In the four months since then, I lost almost 30 pounds and worked my ass off to get back in shape. I put my heart into my business of selling my photography in various forms, and have been happy with the results so far. (Thank you to everyone who's ordered a photo!) I think I'm improving as a public speaker too. But I knew that if I was really going to go all in on what I'm most passionate about--traveling and adventure-style photography, that I was going to need more time than a week's vacation. So I decided to take the leap, take a leave of absence from my job, and travel through North America's National Parks to see what I can do. I feel like I owe it to myself to see how good of a photographer and writer I can be--and this trip across the US and Canada was born out of that feeling in my gut. It just feels like the right thing to do. Even though it's a little uncomfortable to break out of my routine, I really haven't second guessed it.

After a lot of packing and goodbyes, delivering prints and notecards, plus one last stop at the Village Diner and Stewart's, I hit the road today. I drove clear across New York State, riding a wave of excitement (or maybe caffeine?) for what's ahead. I'm pretty damn psyched for this trip, and I've found that I get the most enjoyment out of life when tomorrow has something new in store. I'm hoping to hit Niagra Falls in the morning, a place I've never been before. The last thing I wrote in my journal from Kilimanjaro was: Do my actions match my ambitions? I've tried to answer yes to that question every day since then, and I'm hoping this trip will make that even more true. Thanks for reading and following along!