Just a Dream

It's not clear when it started or ended, this thing I call The Trip.

It wasn't measured in kilometres travelled, sights seen or treats tasted. It wasn't something served up online in filtered photos that influenced me into scrolls, clicks and transactions. It was the seed of a dream buried deep within me that forced its way up and out over many years. It was planted there by people who had long since forgotten me but who I could never forget.

A dream is a source of power that keeps you safe and warm. It cradles and carries you forward through the clutter and confusion of everyday life. It muffles the minutiae that mew for your attention.

But dreams themselves have never been enough to drive me through planning and into action. That would require something more powerful. The rolling, thunderous force that swept me forward was fear. Fear of going, fear of never leaving. Fear of change, fear that everything would stay the same. A swirling storm of fear thrashed me this way and that, eventually tumbling me toward the most important thing I would ever do.