I had planned to take a couple of weeks to settle in and come down to earth, but as I found on my journey, the best laid plans sometimes go awry. I was brought swiftly down to earth by several events. I`d heard my car had failed its MOT and would need scrapping, my lap top had crashed and burned before I left and wasn`t repairable, I needed a new phone, and I had a big tax bill to settle within a couple of months. Sadly, with no immediate work on the horizon. Happy days!
MUCH, MUCH LATER………………
It`s now exactly a year since I headed off for the biggest adventure and challenge of my life. I`ve been back in the U.K. for over 3 months. My planned period of reflection never really happened. Instead life`s events took over with a vengeance and I fell into an emotionally demanding maelstrom of trauma, upheaval and change. In the time I have been back we have had the Christchurch earth quake, and the Japanese tsunami. My first mentor from my school days died, a speaker friend of mine died aged just 52 and a very close friend was diagnosed with a brain tumour and needed surgery and radiotherapy……
The business world has changed too. The post recession cuts are starting to bite deep. It was always a risk to leave for a year and try to pick up the pieces on my return so I could repay the significant investment I borrowed to fund the trip. It is proving even more demanding than I thought.
My trusty bike has been sold and I confess to moment of sadness and reflection as it was strapped to the trailer by its new owner. Even though it was bought for a specific purpose, it had served me well and had been my one and only constant companion throughout the whole journey.
In the face of all that has happened and continues to happen, was it all worth it?
I left behind everything and everyone I loved and cared for, stepped well and truly out of my comfort zone, spent a good deal of the time being anxious, worried and sometimes downright scared, had many “dark nights of the soul”, travelled nearly 20,000 miles through 15 countries, met some amazing people, discovered I have a degenerative spinal condition (which almost brought my journey to a premature end), and in the process raised £3,000 for The Northampton Hope Centre.
So was it worth it?
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain
Unequivocally yes.
I was privileged to have the opportunity. The journey not only reinforced my faith in human nature but took me on a profound inner journey, the findings of which will reveal themselves over time.
To everyone who generously sponsored me I would like to offer a very profound thank you and I assure you all that every penny donated went straight to The Northampton Hope Centre. I would also like to thank everyone who followed my blog, your support and comments helped me enormously, particularly when the going got tough.
Helen Keller was right...
"Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing at all..."
