The Wandering Appetizer

“I feel like my life is eating me alive and I’m just being forced to accept it,” I confessed to my therapist one Sunday afternoon.

My therapist nodded slowly.

“I can’t believe I just said that,” I thought as my heart pounded like a timpani in a Tchaikovsky symphony.

“I know living in your hometown isn’t what you want for yourself, Brooke. Maybe you could set aside some time each week to go out of town to collect yourself? I know you like visiting Seattle.”

My unregulated twenty-three-year-old nervous system didn’t seem to completely reject the idea. As if a global pandemic wasn’t enough character development for a lifetime, I had taken on the responsibility of being a caretaker for my grandma who had been diagnosed with Dementia. Balancing my grandma’s needs 3-4 days a week while working six days a week and attending college was starting to take its toll on me. I was in a quiet but suffocating spiral.

My phone buzzed one day during my ten-hour long shift.

“Hey, this is kind of last minute… but we’re thinking of going to Costa Rica in a couple of months. Do you want to come with?” my friend said.

My thumbs began moving at the speed of light before my brain could fully process what the text had said.

“Count me in,” I wrote back, with no hesitation.

The never ending abyss of anxiety that lived in my gut started to ease up. Is this what hope feels like?

Travel became more than just my escape. It became an opportunity to see who I really was outside of everyday responsibilities and stressors. It showed me who I could be if I stopped caring about what others think and just did what I wanted to do. That’s why I created The Wandering Appetizer.

I know that not everyone has the chance to say “yes” to an opportunity like this, and I also realize that travel is not a cure-all for life’s problems. I am sharing this story because it made me realize what can happen when I finally stopped telling myself “no” all the time. If you’re navigating an emotionally heavy time in your life as you read this, I hope this post makes you feel seen.

This blog is anyone who wants to see the world, but it’s also a stepping stone for those who are on the brink of change without emotional support.

I see you, I hear, I want to travel with you.

Let’s go.