It was the turn of the millennium and life was finally mine...so what was I doing trapped in a hard-earned, well-paid cubicle, staring at my watch, dreaming of the places I'd only ever seen in brochures?

Playing it safe, that's what.  I was living by the rules of my first world Canadian education.  I was trading my life for a paycheck.

Not such a good trade, thought 21-year-old me.  I wanted to BE the brochure, not just drool over it!

Six months after graduating university, I cautiously shook off the shackles of responsibility, hoisted a hope-filled backpack onto my shoulders, and boarded a plane to the other side of the world.  Was I forever screwing up life for future me?  I couldn't help but wonder...

In the almost two decades that have followed, I have learned one lesson above all others:  we CAN, in fact, live the life we actually WANT.  We CAN be the brochure.

That's what I write about.  That's why I write. 

For adults: http://www.wodara.org
For children: http://www.exiterik.com