Nothing's Going to Change My World
(Fiona Apple - Across the Universe)

So my company has asked me if I'd be interested in going to the UK for an extended period of time to help setup our new office there and to train some of our partners and presales team. I've told them that I would be willing to do it for a short time but I did not want to stay more than 6 months. Though nothing is concrete yet, the opportunity to travel reminds me of a decision I made just after university. I had a job offer to go to Japan to teach English for a year and I had turned it down. At the time I felt like I was behind in my career aspirations and a one year expedition was only going to delay it even further. So I decided to stay in Toronto and to work on starting my career. It turns out I didn't have much opportunity to do much that year in Toronto and I decided to go back to school the following year to do a post graduate. In retrospect, it was a missed opportunity to travel and see a culture outside of my own.

This time around, my career seems somewhat dependent on me going overseas and yet I am still hesitant in going. I think I finally realized why. While some people may say that it's merely a fear of being in a foreign land alone or being outside the comfort zone of my own environment, I think it's neither. I think it has more to do with the fact that home will always be where my heart is. And when I say home, I really mean being close to the people I love; whether that's family or friends. I can't imagine enjoying anything that doesn't involve my family or friends.

So on the one hand, I am missing out on opportunities to travel the world and experience new cultures. On the other hand, I am spending some of the most important times in my life close to the people who have shaped and defined who I am. It's a fair trade-off isn't it?

This isn't to say that I will turn down the opportunity to go to the UK outright or even that I will get the opportunity to turn it down. It merely affirms to me that my reasons for possibly not going, are not out of fear. That my heart tells me to stay.

Am I the only one that finds it hard to drift across the universe in pursuit of adventure without my friends and family?