Prologue to the Journey

I've never been the type of person to step out of her comfort zone. I've always preferred the familiar, the safe, all the things I knew I would be able to control. This particular trait of mine has made it difficult for me to move forward in my life. I always manage to slither my way out of doing things and experiencing new ideas and ways of life because of this fear of change. So when I finally grabbed hold of my nerve, I made sure not to let go and bought myself a plane ticket to visit my best friend for the summer. 

But it wasn't just a quick two week trip. 

Oh no. 

I'd decided I wanted to experience new changes and I knew that this summer would be an important test run for any future endeavors in my life. So instead of staying for two weeks, or three, or even a month, I booked myself a flight that would have me return from Wyoming two months after I first arrived. For me, this was something I didn't normally do, especially by myself. 

I'd always had my family by my side to support in everything I did. I was one of the few lucky enough to have that, but what I hadn't realized until now was how much that support actually crippled me. It made me weak and unable to support myself properly. I honestly wasn't sure how to survive on my own without that constant family support. I'd lived my whole life sheltered by walls of happiness and love. But it wasn't until I got older that I discovered just how difficult it was for me to see beyond those walls. I had become so accustomed to them that I didn't know how to be anything more than a prisoner. I couldn't risk forcing myself away into the unknown world when everything I'd ever known was safe inside those walls. What I had once seen as barriers of protection slowly began to warp into the thick slabs of prison walls and I the prisoner who had resided in there for so long that I was unable to remember what life was like outside. 

As much as it hurt me to admit, it was time to leave those walls of comfort and venture into the real world, if only for a while. To taste freedom and independence and understand the wonderful burden that is living on my own. 

So now I must begin this slow journey of discovering myself as a singular person; not just my part in the family unit. I hope this trip will be the first of many more to come and that while I'm on it I will be able to figure out even a small fraction of who I am and maybe even find a new path that leads me away from that wall. If only for a while.