“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
I hope no one reading this ever experiences what I am about to describe but the day one is diagnosed with cancer is often the most pivotal day in their entire life. For me, the diagnosis wasn’t a shock, I was pretty sure I was sick for quite a while before I was diagnosed. However, the surgical recovery and subsequent life-long health problems that resulted from that diagnosis forever changed my goals and priorities.
Although I was lucky to have a treatable form of cancer, undergoing a 9 hour life-saving surgery while my peers stressed about SATs and AP Economics exams, followed by years of physical therapy and chronic pain shifted the course of
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When I visit a new city, I don’t want to spend my time in museums, I want to do or experience something completely unique. Although art evokes my admiration, I’d rather go whitewater rafting down ten different rivers around the world than view ten world renowned art collections. I’d rather spend more time getting to know an area than going to a new place every single day because culture and the worldview of the locals is something that can only be understood if you make a conscious effort to listen and see what’s going on around you. I don’t deny stopping in some cities and towns for just one activity before moving on but I always do my best to learn something from each place I visit.
I travel because when I travel I find that every day brings a new adventure that would have never happened if I was at a different place in time or space. I travel because I have lived within the same ten mile radius since the day I was born and I know the world has so much more to offer. I travel because I don’t want to look back one day and wish I did more. I travel because the memories of my adventures satiate my fear of recurrence by reminding me that no matter what happens, I’ve truly