So, if you’ll indulge me, for just a second, I want to tell you something. How many times have we ignored our inner voice ? I know I have and I paid the price. It was nagging me like a fever in the night, challenging me to not defer my dreams because of the heap of grief I still had to climb over. Nobody wants to be a test dummy for heartache and misfortune. Do you ever feel that way, like there’s some empty space inside you, desperately hoping you’ll figure out how to fill it ? Sometimes we know what it is, sometimes we don’t. I needed to attend to the things I longed for. I blew off my soul-killing, 60-hour-a-week job, took every last dime to my name, with not enough money to even get back home, loaded up my dog and a lot more baggage than I realized, and hit the road. The spark of an idea became an obsession, calling me out, daring me to do something I had never done before. Last summer I risked everything my reputation, my family’s shoestring existence, my safety, even my sanity. What would it take to change your life? What are you willing to risk to walk away from it all, to simply say, “I can’t do this anymore.” What happens when you awaken to a longing in your heart so deep and so powerful, to ignore it would be like leaving a baby in the road? So what happens when you step off? What happens when so many bad things have been thrown your way, you just can’t clear the hurdles anymore?

Has your life ever gotten to the point where you felt like your robotic obedience to the norm is steering you off a cliff? Can you look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I am doing what I am meant to do?” Or has it come down to – Have you ever felt like running away? I mean truly running away quitting your job, checking out, going off the grid, saying goodbye to your family and friends, leaving town, the grocery store, the gas station, the lady who cuts your hair, the boy who cuts your grass, the stack of unpaid bills. How my dog inspired me to quit my job, pack my car, and take a road trip across America to reclaim my life.

Off the Leash by Jean Ellen Whatley