Statement of Intent

(f you're confused about this appearing on here, just know it's being posted on several websites. I'm precommitting to this by ensuring that a lot of people see it.)

Once I graduate college I’m going to travel the world. My money will come from writing, editing, publishing, acting, directing, producing, recording, photographing and working odd jobs. I’ll travel by plane, train, bike and foot everywhere I like, and I will carry everything I need with me. I’ll hitchhike, couchsurf, camp and explore with reckless abandon. I will take the road less traveled, freed from the expenses of owning a car, supporting a family or paying a mortgage, and I will do everything in my power to enjoy myself instead of being trapped in some consumerist retelling of the American Dream.

When I was growing up, many people tried to discourage me from this dream because of their own irrational fears. I grew to doubt myself because I was young, impressionable, depressed and unconfident, and as a result what I wanted to do with my life felt impossible because it wasn’t allowed by their closed-minded system. Because of that a section of my life has been spent in limbo, feeling powerless and without direction, just paying lip service to my goals.

My life is a piece of property, and it’s mine to do with as I choose. Even if it means being disowned by every person close to me, losing everything of value in my life, being subjected to hunger and pain, and dying sad and alone, I will travel the world. From this point forward, anyone who tries to stop me from living that life, who tries to murder my future because they feel like they have more of a right to decide it than I do, is making themselves my enemy.

This is my statement of intent: when I’m 22 and have a Bachelor’s degree to my name, I’ll be traveling.

Or kill me.



(Footnote of interest: yearly in the US roughly 16 people die of hitchhiking. To offer some context to that, 13 people die each year because vending machines fall on them. The world is often dangerous, but people who think it's out to get them specifically are displaying the worst kind of arrogance. Most of your fears are irrational. Be pessimistic about pessimism.)