But wait, you don’t have a job, how could you possibly slow down any more?
Travel can go pretty quickly. I’ve been moving from place to place every few days, never staying longer than a week. Everywhere there are new sights to see, new alleyways to get lost in, new friends to make. It’s been fun, but I’m two and a half months into my trip that’s supposed to last a year (or more?) and I’m tired. I don’t want to be moving so fast. I want to settle into a place and get to know it better.
I had a lot of reasons for hitting the road: I’ve always had a serious love for it (the Philippines is country #22 for me), I’m a culture shock junkie, I needed a consolation prize for going through a couple really crappy years… but my real purpose for taking this trip was to remove myself from distractions and focus on writing fiction.
As I write more and more each day, I realize how much more I have to learn. I want to become a better storyteller, I want to spend less time second guessing myself, to finish this handful of half-finished short stories I’ve been tinkering on for the past five years, to make this blog into something more than just an update for friends and family to read. All of that requires time, and to have time requires slowing down.
So instead of taking you every step of the way with me on my trip, I’m going to step back a little. I’m going to stop moving so fast. I’m going to spend time learning how to tell my stories better and trying to get them out there in print. You’ll still know where I am and what I’m doing, but in 2013 I’m going to make a concerted effort to do the one thing I came out here to do. Besides eat.
Wishes for love and health, and a 2013 of your best aspirations,
Colleen
