I feel as if I am on the edge of a cliff, about to be pushed off.
I keep wondering, what is on the other side?

When I left my family and friends to pursue this life of travel, I knew I wanted to find some part of myself that I felt was waiting for me in the wild. I needed to challenge myself, to really push my outer limits and ideas. 

While traveling in Norway and Finland, I was pushed so far that my old life showed up as a blip in the distance. Living in the cold, dark winter with very little amenities was an act of peeling back all the layers of my life to find the core essence of what it meant to be alive. 

Warmth . Food . Water

We went without running water, or electricity. We built fires every morning and evening to stave off the freezing cold that its blew icy breath through the cracks in the window frames.  We pooped in buckets. We wore our clothes constantly, even to bed. We washed in saunas. We worked outside in the garden. We cooked everything from scratch. 

Slowly I began to see the benefits of this new-old way of living. Tasks seemed to make more sense, and my awareness of the resources around me was at an all time high. And yet I felt I was being dragged by a tugging, pushing, grabbing force as I stumbled ever closer towards an abyss called change. 

Finally I let go, and just jumped. 

A NOTE FROM THE OTHER SIDE:

It is not so scary. 

Letting go of my inhibitions and previously held ideas was probably the hardest part of this journey. Living differently became easy. 

The human being is so adaptable, and yet we find change terrifying. It is this single fear that holds us back from changing our own lifestyles, despite knowing how we affect our environment and others in our society.

I know now that I can be happy whether I live in a tiny car, or in the coldest climes of the world. I can be happy while living in a two hundred year old farm house, with amenities to match, or in an apartment in the city. 

I can live on the very edge.

* Shown here are my visions of Preikestolen and the fjord.