I never planned to leave everything behind.Not on that day. Not in that moment.
The morning began like any other—quiet, predictable, almost scripted. My alarm echoed at 6:30 AM, the same dull tone I had heard for years. But instead of rising, I lay there, staring at the ceiling, feeling a question grow heavier inside me:
"Is this really the life I'm meant to live?"
The room felt smaller that day, as if the walls had moved closer overnight. Maybe it was fatigue. Maybe boredom. Or maybe it was the faded world map hanging just above my desk—something I had owned since childhood.
It reminded me of dreams I once had.Dreams buried under the weight of routines, deadlines, and responsibilities.
I got up slowly and walked toward the map. The morning light touched its surface, turning the oceans a faint blue and the continents a warm gold. I traced my fingers across it—over mountains I had never climbed, cities I had never seen, and cultures I had only read about.
And then a single thought rose in my head, louder than any alarm:
"Why not now?"
Why not today?Why not begin the journey I had postponed my entire life?
For the first time in years, something inside me shifted—something that felt like the first step of a very long road.
What began as an ordinary morning ended as the beginning of everything.