The journey we once wouldn’t have dared to take

For years, I watched certain journeys from afar.

A road that was too long.

An unfamiliar country.

A different language

A motorcycle trip.

A motorhome.

Driving for hours through places I did not know and that, from a distance, seemed difficult or even dangerous.

There were journeys I dreamed of many times, but they always seemed to belong to that category of things we would do someday.

Someday.

And perhaps for a long time I thought that certain adventures were no longer for me, that some things were easier to do when we were younger, that certain roads required too much energy, too much confidence, or simply too much courage.

Until one day I asked myself Why not?

It is true that fears do not disappear with age, but I think we learn to see them differently, because I have discovered that many of the things I considered impossible for so long were not really impossible; they simply frightened me.

And so I began to do something different

Plan more carefully.

Do my research.

Ask questions.

Take precautions.

Choose our own pace.

And then, simply, set off.

And perhaps that is how I understood that I did not need to be younger; I simply needed to dare.

There is something magical about discovering that we can still surprise ourselves, that we can still feel that little fear before we begin.

And there is also that immense satisfaction when, at last, we are on the road, living it.

I am sure it is not about overcoming all our fears, but about learning that some of them can travel with us.