It’s the end of 2024.

I’ve always been terrible at picking favorites, but it’s pretty hard to argue that this has been one of the best years of my short life.

One of the biggest.

One of the longest.

One of the shortest.

The year I traveled the most, and the furthest from home I’ve ever been.

Just here for the photos?

Take me There Now →

The Travel

I lived in five different cities between my shorter trips abroad, and now I’m closing in on the two-year anniversary of throwing the necessities in a suitcase and the rest of my belongings in storage.

The decision that has made this whole thing possible.

I’ve spent most of the last two years trying to express how grateful I am. I know everything can be turned upside down in an instant, so even though nothing is ever 100% perfect, and my life isn’t made up entirely of the parts I show online, the most important thing in the equation for me is staying in the moment and enjoying every single second I can for however long this phase of life lasts.

I’m in a place now where I’ve settled into this lack of structure so thoroughly that I’m not sure what the transition back will look like for me–when and if I decide to stay in one place again someday.

But for now, I’m enjoying every second of the experiences I’ve been lucky enough to have, and just doing my best to document them so that I can always look back on the art I’m creating throughout it all.

Long Distance

In the summer of 2023, I met a photographer in Boston.

And then I was learning a new language, navigating a long-distance relationship complete with ever-changing timezones. But not for much longer.

I remember joking with my sisters during a visit back home last year that I couldn’t see how a relationship could work when I lived out of a suitcase.

I hadn’t factored in the girl who’d pack her own bags and come along with me.

Solitude

I’ve been doing this alone, happily, for a long time. Being content, comfortable, maybe even too used to my own company is one of the skills I’m most proud of developing throughout this process.

The confidence I see in myself after navigating everything I have didn’t exist in me two years ago.

I envisioned being alone for the foreseeable future, in the happily self-sufficient way I’d learned to be.

Now, it’s exciting and almost frightening to imagine life any other way.

It also feels a bit like lightning struck the same place twice. Taking the opportunity to rearrange my entire life to revolve around travel, and then somehow meeting the girl whose mind works just the same as mine?

The Other Shoe

I find myself worrying from time to time, without basis necessarily, but worrying nonetheless about the other shoe. What if it all comes to an end?

I used to hope for things to change. Now I worry that they will.

If there’s one takeaway I have from the past 365 days, it’s that fear never leaves, no matter what I overcome, there will always be another uncertainty, another worry to confront on the other side.

But when you set out on a long trek up a tall mountain, you can’t scale the entire thing without ever once looking back. To do so would be to forget the reason you began the climb in the first place.

One thing I’m in the process of learning is how to stop and enjoy all the different views along the way. The summit may always be just out of reach, and even if I find myself at the top one day, I’ll only have a clearer view of another, taller peak.

There are very few limitations, mostly just the ones we self-impose. The last thing I want to do is settle down after traveling the world only to finally look back and see I’ve stood in my own way the entire time.

It’s one thing to do it, and it’s another to enjoy it.

Today is just one of many views I’ll take in on a journey with only one inevitable ending. And even if you’re watching this from a place you’ve rarely left, you should know that it’s not the distance or grandeur of the journey that decides your destination.

“Easy for you to say”, you might think, as I finish writing this far from where I was raised, after flying over oceans and stumbling through foreign cities.

Humans are capable of incredible things, ten or 10,000 miles from home.

Don’t choose convenience or comfort. Identify the buttons you can press, the things you can control, and plant yourself firmly in the driver's seat of your own life. You only have a few years here. Try not to operate from a place of fear, but recognize the preciousness of how we spend our time.

Final Thoughts

I love my life, and I have so many plans. We have so many plans.

I can’t wait for everything that 2025 has in store, and I’m filled with anticipation at the thought of documenting it all. I’ve already done so much planning, and I can’t wait to share it all here, and over on YouTube.

Thank you for reading, watching, looking, and listening this year. It means so much to me and I can’t wait to keep putting my art out in the world. I hope that in doing so I can motivate or push people in some of the same ways that I have been inspired myself.