I’m guessing I’d be somewhere in Kansas right now if I had continued on the bicycle trip I planned for this year. Tires turning mile after mile while I take in all the new places and people that are tough to avoid on a long-distance ride. The daily dangers of weather, angry drivers, and hungry wildlife would be the rushes of adrenaline I’d be feeding off of as well as the excitement of finding the perfect baseball field to pitch my tent in, free of charge. But I’m not dealing with any of these things right now and I’m actually super happy about it.
While last year’s bike trip was everything I hoped for and more, I couldn’t seem to take in anything else from the experience this time around. I was on the road for about a month, traveled up through Vermont and into Canada and all the way over to Toronto by the time I’d had enough. I was presented with an easy way home and I saw it as perfect timing, something too good to be reduced to a coincidence. I took the ticket and in a long, overnight drive with some friends, I was back home like nothing ever happened.
There were a few moments on the drive where I was wondering if I was making the right choice. I trained so hard for this trip and wanted so badly to feel the freedom of living on the road again. When my 7 month long bike trip ended this past Winter, I couldn’t wait to get out and do it again. I felt more myself on the road than I had ever felt; more confident, and more connected to nature and the powers of the universe that we’re all victims of, for better or worse. Maybe it was the adrenaline, all the endorphins my brain was firing off with all the physical activity but I was definitely addicted to something, and I wanted more!
More....anything, you could say. We’re all capable of achieving anything, we just need to want it badly enough. In a short time after being home in March, I decided to push myself into other uncharted territory, online dating. Yikes. It even seems corny to write despite how many people I know that’ve had success with finding someone on the internet. Dating quickly lead me to further unknown territory and before I knew it, I was in love. I had been out to my close friends and immediate family for quite some time but, talking about my sexuality with anyone further seemed pointless when I wasn’t dating or even interested in it at that time. I would never pretend to be anything I’m not but I must say, I’ve never been more proud of who I am than right now.
Needless to say, this new love in my life was certainly a major factor in my decision to come home early from this years bike journey. I felt I was leading myself down a massive, unnecessary detour that would yield no benefits to what I was trying to do with my life: be a full time artist among my friends and family and my boyfriend and embrace what it means to have a home.
Damn, love is good, love is great...someone ought to write a song about it. I’m overjoyed to be sitting at my studio desk as I write this out, finished and unfinished pieces of art all around me, table covered in tubes of paint and pencils, a hot cuppa coffee within reach; as well as a head full of inspiration and a heart full of love. I feel uninhibited, invincible and excited for the future.
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