The In-Between

I did it you guys. I lived the dream. I backpacked across Europe and drove across the USA and back. From the beginning, my plan was to end after Labor Day or until I reached my financial savings threshold and I have arrived at both.

After 3 months of freedom and adventure, it’s time to head back to reality — a job, an income, my own bed and drawers to put my clothes in. I avoided thinking of this moment so as not to spoil all the fun, but I have arrived at the proverbial bridge that I must now cross. My money cup will not overfloweth forever.

I now find myself in this anxiety-inducing place I call “the in-between.” I’m in between jobs, in between apartments, even in between hurricanes it seems. When people ask me where I live I don’t know what to say. I’m in between cities. I live where I’m physically at in that moment. In the in-between, I feel free to choose what comes next and that is wonderful, but it also makes me feel aimless and that is scary. What will become of me?

There’s so much up in the air, but if travel has taught me anything it’s that you have to be flexible, adaptable, and that you have to figure it out. Lastly, and this point is crucial, you have to have faith that what is meant to be will be. Somehow it will all work out.

The thing is, you can’t go back only forward. In the in-between, you remember what made you go, yet you hope for what is to come. You seek the next adventure — in life as in travel.

I took the leap of faith. I soared. Now it’s time to turn right side up, pull the chute, and pray to God that I land on my feet. The in-between is terrifying, breathtaking, exhilarating. Open your eyes. See where you land.