I received my passport back to day from the Korean Consulate. My journey is on!

I realized that I have been incredibly calm. It will be the first time that I’ve ever been away from my family at all. It’ll be the first time that I’ve lived on my own. Now I’m about to move to a country of which I have no friends and barely know how to speak the language. When I told my co-workers and friends about teaching in Korea, they all ask, “Aren’t you scared? I’d be freaked out.” I don’t feel nervous or any sense of fear. Maybe it’s because I really wanted this challenge.

I wanted to do this to find myself again. The last two years of high school was hell for me because of deep internal issues. I was deeply troubled by somethings that happened in my past, and I simply suppressed my feelings about them. When the people that caused this pain appeared back into my life, I ended up experiencing a mental implosion. It affected me so much so, that I couldn’t recognize myself anymore. I had no faith in my abilities, no confidence. I felt like a shell of my former self. It affected everything. It took me nearly six years to feel somewhat like myself again, but I still feel like something is missing from me. I don’t really know what it is. What I’m hoping to gain from this experience is to try regain the balance in my life that I once had, to accept myself fully, and to trust in my abilities to adapt to the circumstances in this journey of life.

In short, I am not worried about what challenges I am to face on my trip to South Korea because I welcome them.