The Great Escape

"Happy New Year and good luck to you!"

The call from Cambodia came through on New Year's Day. As if a single sunbeam bursted through the grey clouds to lighten up my day. The struggle is almost over. My time here is almost done. Only 17 days left on the day job. I still fail to explain exactly what it is that I'm going to do. Most of the time I mumble something vague:

"Backpacking in India, you know. For about a year. Something like that. I'm not really sure. Got a one-way ticket and a little bit of savings. Maybe I'll visit some other countries too. Don't know much else, don't have much to say…"

But that's just because I'm a shy, anxious dude who wants to dissolve into thin air every time someone asks me a personal question. Otherwise I would tell you all about avoiding the way of the dodo, about the Great Escape. About my hopes and dreams, the search for a better place and a happier, more fulfilling live. There is more than grey, old Brussels. I'm done with staring at the shadows on the wall. I don't want to fade away in a boring job, a lonely live, lousy movies on tv and too much cheap beer. That's why I have to leave. That's why I have to get out. Everyday I stay in this room, the borders of my own limitations are vastly expanding. But it doesn't have to go down like this. I don't have to be a shy and anxious man. I can do better.

So this is me doing something. This is about being my own dog. About my humble attempts to become a better man and, why not, make the world a better place in the process.
Oh, and also about India, of course.

No worries, this time I got it all figured out.
My master plan makes perfect sense.
Or, at least, I know it will
Once I get out of here…