Food for thought

Pardon me as I wax philosophical about my blog's title. The quote by Andre Gide, has been a favorite of mine for some time. I've definitely had some hard times in my life, as have we all, and they have been somewhat tempered of late by my acquired knowledge that these are the times that shape me. We don't grow when everything is hunky dory, we grow when we are tested, and we are different people at the end of each test. We learn what we are made of when things are tough. So when people tell me I am crazy for picking up and moving across the pond, I think about when I moved with my family to Italy...we lived there while I was 14 and 15...and I think about how my parents and sister picked up and moved to England while I was in college in the US. Making such a move is hard, and I'm not just talking about culture shock. Your world view shifts, you have to cultivate an open mind, you have to figure out how to rebuild your social/support networks...you have to figure out how to cope while you build a new life for yourself. And those are times I have been really alive! Those are times I have really grown as a person, and have shaped me into who I am today. So basically, to me that quote means that if you don't let go of what you know, of what is familiar and comfortable, you're gonna miss what's just around the corner, and you'll miss getting to know the best parts of you. Maybe you won't mind, because you won't know what you're missing out on, and for you familiar and comfortable is all you want. And I'm not knocking that, to each their own...but for me, I don't want to miss out on anything, I want to always be reaching for the stars. I guess it's a big part of who I am, and so Andre Gide's words really resonate with me "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." My parents wrote in my birthday card a week ago they admired my courage...I think a lot of my courage comes from knowing this move will challenge me, and it will be hard, but I know I will find new oceans, and in the end the initial discomforts of homesickness and second thoughts and anxiety/stress will have been more than worth what I reap in the end from having lost sight of the shore.