One Year Lived

 As featured in ABC News.com: The Millennials Who Want To See The World

I decided to take a year off and go around the world. I wasn’t lost or looking for myself. I wasn’t unhappy. I wasn’t unemployed or mad at capitalism.

I was just curious.

I visited seventeen countries on four continents and spent less money than I would have spent if I would have stayed home. Among my experiences included volunteering for four months in Central America, eating a duck embryo in the Philippines, mustering cattle in Australia, and yes, there was a mullet in Thailand.

 I stood atop the platform in Slovakia, cord taut around my ankles, ready to jump into the abyss of the High Tatras mountain range, and dude said to me in broken English, “Just in case line break and you not stop before ground, we really enjoy know you.”

Some days were madness, others chill, and through it all, it was the greatest year of my life. I decided to write a book about my experiences, and One Year Lived was born. Now I get some interesting responses. 

“Cute story,” I hear.

“What was your favorite place?” people ask.

“What did you learn?”

“How much did it cost?”

“How did you get so fat?”

“What did your parents think?”

And it is this last question that begs most of my attention.

My mom says, not jokingly, that when my brother and I were born, she set us free to discover the world on our own. She offered guidance and discipline and assistance when necessary, but otherwise, she mostly let us make our own choices, our own mistakes. We fell on our own, and we triumphed on our own.

And I wonder if this level of independence is an anomaly. 

Am I a better person for this trip? Of course. Am I better than the people who did not take this trip? Of course not. They had domestic experiences of their own and made discoveries of their own. We each had very different journeys, whether domestic or abroad.

So this is not about the trip itself, but the idea of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. So often, we spend our lives focusing on this one stiff paradigm—to go to school, to work, to make babies, to work some more, to retire—that our eyes are not open to other possibilities, and often, this means turning thirty, fifty, ninety, and thinking, “What if?” 

My parents bucked that trend from birth to present. They didn’t allow us to watch TV; they checked our homework; and then they pushed us out the door to play. When I was fifteen, an opportunity came up at school, for the students whose parents could afford it, to go to Spain and France for ten days. My Pops immediately had gas in the tank for the lawnmower and staked me the funds to buy business cards, too, and two months later, I was off to Europe.

 And that trip sparked a lifelong dedication to world (and national) travel. 

So, when people ask me what my parents thought about my yearlong ‘round the world trip, I mention to them that my parents encouraged it, and people can’t believe that to be true. “Really?” they ask. “‘Encouraged’ seems a little hyperbolic.”

I remember being on the soccer field in Honduras. I was volunteering for two months with a vacation activities program, presumably enriching the lives of the children of the small town of El Porvenir while they were out of school for their summer break. We made bracelets; we practiced English; we read books; we wrote in journals; we colored; we played soccer. And then:

Carlos, eight years old, zips over to me with a wide smile that can’t possibly be replicated. He looks up and into my eyes. He makes his appeal. “Adán!” he pleads. Man, that smile. “Adán! Avión!” He raises his arms up to me. It’s airplane time; three o’clock is always airplane time, and as soon as he mentions this, the herd drops the soccer ball they’ve been kicking among them and thunders toward me. Assembling around me, they cheer one another on while awaiting their turn.

One after another, I hoist them up by their waists, grunt as I stretch my arms over my head, and sail them through the air. I run fast, careful to keep from slipping in the muddy grass. I make each flight as thrilling as I can while keeping a little gas in the tank for the next flyer. They open up wide, arms and legs extended to capacity, and they set themselves free. These kids had a small lunch at home, maybe a little rice and beans, and some beans and pineapple will be served for dinner. Their dads cherish them but work too long and too hard to have any energy to play with them at night, and their moms will have a list of chores that continue long into the evening. They’ll sleep three or four to a room, sharing hard, scratchy, fifteen-year-old mattresses, and they’ll wish their parents could afford just one more fan to keep the sweat from beading all over their bodies while they sleep. But right now? Right now, right at that moment out on that field, they’re soaring through the air, no worries. The breeze plays across their faces; the air welcomes and embraces them and makes them forget. One after the other.

 “What if I wasn’t here?” I thought. “What if I didn’t have this wonderful opportunity to have my life enriched by these children? What if my parents had kept me sheltered and on the path they wanted me to take? What if they didn’t encourage my brother and me to go exploring?”

 This year was the greatest year of my life, no doubt, but more than that, this year allowed me to take another big step out of my comfort zone. And I wonder if other parents today are inspiring their children to do the same thing, to take a risk or two, or if the lives of their children are designed to follow a predetermined path. 

And so I ask you this: What would your parents say if you told them you were going to drop everything to go traveling?

Or, more interestingly, if you are a parent yourself, what would you say if your child came to you after college and proposed a yearlong trip around the world?

 

Bullfighting In Nicaragua

 

 Photo Credits:

Photos © Adam Shepard

---

 

 

Guest Author Bio

Adam Shepard

Adam Shepard’s first book, Scratch Beginnings, was featured widely in the national media, including The Today Show and with Glenn Beck, and was chosen for the curriculum or as a common read at over ninety colleges and universities across the United States. His newest book, One Year Lived, recounts the year he spent out in the world: seventeen countries, four continents, and one haunting encounter with a savage bull. More information (and a picture of the mullet that Adam grew on the trip) are available at www.OneYearLived.com

 Adam on Facebook

Recent Guest Author Articles:

• Empowered to Advocate: How to Become the Voice for the Silent
• How to Build a Celebration-Ready Wine Cellar
• Wander, Discover, Reflect: My Most Surprising Finds in Las Vegas
• Creating Meaningful Connections: What Ecosystems and Families Teach Us About Belonging
• How Breathwork Creates a Pathway Through Trauma: Beyond Traditional Approaches