Kidney stone removed, gear repacked, keys to apartment to be handed in to my landlord in the morning, tomorrow I go.

Couldn’t sleep yesterday, apprehension, doubts, firework of thoughts kicking off in my mind.

Had the last meal with my friends, the thumbs up from my therapist, I’m ready. Everytime I hug or spend time with loved ones I’m assaulted by doubts. I calm myself down and remember that they’ll be in my heart throughout this, this is not a goodbye, it’s a see you later on the road!

Well, there I was days from departing, my gear ready, my motorcycle prepared. My mind as resolute as it could be. The start of my adventure was within reach, I could feel it! I had packed all my belongings; sold all the stuff I didn’t need. My nights were consumed by the departure. I had handed in my last bits of my military equipment a few days before, itself a strange feeling of letting go. The shedding of my old self had begun.

All stories start with a call to adventure, but before that happens there’s normality or the ordinary world: what we know, who we are, the normal, the comfortable place within one is yet compelled to leave….

My normality was being a soldier for fourteen years, one might say that was an adventure in itself. Sadly it was one that took its toll on me.