Lately I’ve Been Learning

18) Save room for serendipity.

Every time I’ve decided to travel by myself, I’ve always experienced a moment of intense doubt. Should I be doing this? What am I going to do alone for four days? Am I just running away? But then I get here, I arrive, and slowly but surely everything starts to change.

They say that fortune favors the bold, the dauntless, the daring, but I think it’s much simpler than that. In my experience you don’t need to be bold to be brave. In reality fortune favors those who try, even incrementally, to be a little bit braver than they were the day before. Really if life asks anything of us, it’s not that we constantly take chances, make changes, and act erratically. Instead life only asks that we stay open, and leave room for a little serendipity once in a while.

What I love about being on vacation is that when you’re away your only real job is to exist well. You have no obligations or responsibilities to anyone but yourself. “Enjoy,” life whispers to those who are listening— engage for once, don’t just do. So that’s what I’ve been learning lately, and what I hope to take back from a wonderful week spent in Portland. Sometimes all you need is a simple reminder to stay open, because you never know what gift life wants to give you.