Our RTW trip is fast approaching and as it gets closer and closer I find myself thinking a lot about my goals for the trip; what I want to accomplish and how I want to live my life over the next couple of years. I recently read an article about the power of saying yes. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I found the article, but the gist of it was this: Saying no always leads to a dead end. Saying yes, on the other hand, always leads to something else.

I’m planning to write a letter to myself on the plane ride from Chicago to Portland. In the letter, I’m going to include everything I hope to accomplish and all of the goals I have for myself on this trip. I’ll seal the letter and then open it again on the plane ride back to see if I actually did accomplish my goals, or how far off I was in thinking about what I wanted a year earlier. I don’t know what all of my goals are quite yet, but I do know my first one. Say yes.

A lot of times I’ll catch myself saying no before even considering what saying yes could mean. No, I’m going to stay in tonight. No, I don’t want to go to dinner. No, I don’t need another drink. All dead ends. For some reason, I’ll just instinctually say no before even considering saying yes. Well, not on this trip. Do I want to go out? Yes. Do I want to try eating some weird bug even if it’s not covered in chocolate or something else that will make it not taste like a bug? Yes. Do I want to take one extra tour while visiting a country? Yes. Why the hell not, right? As all of the teenage girls are saying these days… YOLO.