I was 25. I’d finished college and had been accepted into law school.  I was working at a medical lab to earn money for it. I’d been with the same girl for a long time. I expected that we would get married some day. Grad school, career, marriage, kids. Probably a life in the suburbs, like our parents.

Then we broke up. Surprise…

I went camping in Big Sur for a few days. Sitting in the forest, looking at the waves, I had an epiphany. I was suddenly, truly free. All bets were off. What do you do when you can do anything?

I asked myself: what do you really want from life? On your deathbed, how will you feel when you examine your life?

That’s when I realized that what I really wanted was to take a two-year trip around the world.

I would do it cheap – camping, hitch hiking, hostels. I realized I would need a lot more money than what I had saved. My family was always struggling, and no one would lend me money to bum around the world.

Law school could wait. And I could borrow for that, later.

So I took a second full-time job. Now I was working the graveyard shift at one place, and all day at the lab. No time for sleep. No time to spend money. I was focused. The money started adding up.

It took two years to save enough. It was exhausting, but then I quit my jobs and started my dream trip. I ran out of money after thirteen months, and never made it around the world that trip, but it was still epic. As it turned out, I never went to law school.

I think we need to carefully listen to our hearts to find what we really want – not the voices of our family, friends, teachers, and especially not the media. And not our chattering “monkey-minds” – the problem-solving part of our brains obsessed with planning and worrying and regretting. All those voices can fill our heads until we can’t hear our own hearts.

Someone told me once: “If you’re not sure, go somewhere quiet until you can hear it. Camping is good. Backpacking is better. Prayer, meditation – do a fast and a vision quest. Or just pack some food and go sit in a quiet dark closet until all the outside voices stop – that works, too. Whatever it takes. After all, what’s more important than identifying our dreams, then realizing them?”

“You must commit to making it happen. Devote yourself to your dream, wholeheartedly. No excuses. This commitment is more important than anything else in your life.”

I think he was right.

I posted this photo for those people wondering if I’m the same Chris Garske they remember. I’m the one who grew up in the Bay Area, went to Ygnacio, DVC and UCSB, then went to work in the video game industry. Now I live in Hawaii, in Kona. This photo was taken in 2010 in Big Sur, California.