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Every kid has a dream of how their life will be growing up, whether it’s big or small. I remember as 9 years old, living in Vietnam, finding a book with a picture of the majestic snowcap of Everest on my dad’s bookshelf. I became obsessed with it. For weeks, I daydreamed about how one day, I will finally get to see snow and conquer the peaks of that magnificent mountain. That picture of Everest had a prominent spot above my desk for most of my childhood.
However, like all childhood dreams, mine has been pushed aside for something more “realistic”. When my family moved to the United States, life started to get in the way. With my parents working two jobs to put food on our table, I’ve grown up having “sensible” plans for the future. My plan was to finish college, have an awesome corporate job, get married to my dream guy, and have a family of my own. I spent hours studying and graduated with honors. Life after that was all about either working 7 days a week or expensive dinners and parties. Even though I was happy, I felt something was missing. That little childhood dream tucked away in the darkest corner of my mind.
Have you heard that expression “People make plans and God laughs?” Well, my plan fell apart as I got laid off from my awesome corporate job. When it rained, it poured. I also found out that the person I thought was the love of my life had cheated on me through half of our relationship. When everything you planned for had gone wrong; when your perfect life turned out to be a lie, nothing else seemed to matter. After months of trying to repair my broken relationship and life, I realized that I had been spiraling down this rabbit hole of desperation and couldn’t find my way out of it.
As all hope seemed to be lost, I decided to do something for myself. It was something that I’d always wanted to do but was too scared to do, skydiving. My sister and best friend came with me to the skydiving facility. They watched as I put on my suit to get ready for my solo jump. My heart was pumping with this new feeling of joy and anticipation. It was something that had been missing for the past few months, as I slinked my way through the cloak of darkness that I called my relationship.
When I jumped out of the airplane, I could feel that weight being lifted off of me. As I was falling down, all the stress, self-doubt, and self-pity evaporated. For once in my life, I felt happy and complete. It was something that I can still remember and feel to this day. At that moment, I understood that everything happened for a reason. At that exact moment, my life was changed forever.
And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.
So, I became a different person then. I started to do things that mattered to me. Since then, I started to live for the moment and to push myself out of my comfort zone. In that dark corner of my mind, the picture of Everest became a beacon for my hopes and dreams. More and more, I started to cross things off of my bucket list. I hiked more, went on more adventures, and did everything that used to scare me such as skydiving, bungee jumping, holding a snake, swimming with sharks, etc.
Along the way, I met Dustin. He is the piece of my soul that I was missing. With my major in Graphic Design and his in Photography, combined with our mutual love for adventures and addiction to adrenaline, we were a perfect match. We have made it our mission in life to go to at least one new place and do at least one new activity each year. So far, we’ve done everything from kayaking, snorkeling, and shark cage diving to learning how to hang-glide, paraglide, and wing-walking, as well as traveling to many beautiful places.
Of course, Everest is still on my bucket list. We also adopted two beautiful kitties. Although life does have its ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade what I have now for anything else in the world. Dustin and I hope to inspire you to play more, travel more, and live more.
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