Sitting in the airport, I hear an announcement: my plane will be delayed, and I have a connection to make with only an hour in between flights. I get up and begin pacing, wondering if I’ll make it, worrying if I’ll be on time. After a while it becomes clear I will not make my connection. I’m frustrated and a bit angry. Then I remember something; that it doesn’t matter; I have nowhere I really need to be, and no strict schedule I really need to follow; I’m traveling freely for the next year of my life without a set plan or a final destination, and it doesn’t matter.

As I write this there is a realization that I take great pleasure in constantly being able to recall; that I can live without expectations, anticipations, and any set plans concerning a future that is all my own; that freedom is a state of mind; that I don’t have to be concerned with where I go next, how I get there, and when that will be; that I don’t need to feel burdened by the expectations of society over starting a career, marrying a woman, and starting a family. These are liberating thoughts, but they have not been, and are not, always easy to embrace…