Uncanny | Cassidy Berlin

It struck me as I was driving back from Zion National Park that this world is full of such wondrous places and I only have a life time to see it all. My heart started pounding and I began to feel extremely anxious. In my mind I began questioning our society and why we live life the way we do. Why do we have to go to school, then get married and work, then have kids and watch them repeat the process? What if that’s not what life is supposed to be about? What if life is supposed to be about exploring and traveling and learning about different cultures. Instead of sitting in a classroom and reading a book wouldn’t it be so much better if we could just travel and learn about life through experiences.

My mom tells me “You need to make sure that you get a good education and make money before you go travel.” But every second I sit down to do a math problem I feel like I’m wasting a second I could be spending gazing at the pyramids in Egypt, or hiking through a rainforest in Africa. The thought of someday dying and not being able to see all of planet earth…it almost makes me mad.

Seeing a national park is supposed to make you happy, and usually it does for me. But on that drive home I felt stressed and scared. At the age of 20 I should be thinking “I’m still so young!” Instead my thoughts are “I’m running out of time…”