Following Your Dreams Before Life Ties You Down

Today, it's about one month left before I leave my home to travel to the other side of the world (literally). My plan is to live my dream of seeing and exploring the wonderful island country of New Zealand, where I will be backpacking for at least a few months.

A lot of people ask me why I'm doing it - why would I just drop everything and travel to the other side of the world now, without having any kind of security back home?

And yes,those people have a point; I have no job, very little money, no connections, no place of my own and no education above high school level. I have basically no "security" as some people would see it.

Securities keep you safe - and tie you down

But while most people see all this as something that's holding me back, I see it as the very opposite: Without all these things tying me down, I am completely free to go anywhere, and do anything I want.
 
 That's because securities work in two ways; they keep you safe from falling, but they also keep you from reaching the sky. Granted, it can be nice having some security in life - without it, you would never feel safe. But securities such as having a steady job and owning a house also ties you down, leaving you unable to do certain things, such as traveling the world. Sure, you'll probably never go hungry or cold in your life, but you also won't be able to live out any adventurous dreams you might have.

The future is uncertain

I believe you should live out your dreams today, because you never know what tomorrow might bring. What if I, for instance, were to get really sick in a few years, or suffer some kind of accident that leaves me crippled? Then I wouldn't be able to travel the world as I've always wanted. So why risk not being able to do it at all in the future, when I have the perfect opportunity to do what I want right now?

It makes me sad to see a lot of people today build up their securities early on in life (getting a job, starting a family, getting a nice house etc.), only to spend the rest of their lives being tied down by these things. They might tell themselves that they'll just go to college, or work for a couple of years, and then they'll be able to do exactly what they want. And there's nothing wrong with that - if everything goes as planned.

However, with most people, everything doesn't go as planned. It can be anything from illness, to getting a girlfriend, to even a stock market crash - but something will most likely come in their way if they wait too long. And then they'll look back on their past and wish they'd done everything they wanted, while they still could.


So, will you live your dreams today, while you still can? Or are you going to let life tie you down before you get a chance to?