Every year on an otherwise insignificant day, we celebrate a day we don’t remember happening and expect it to change something about our lives. As each year passes and I’ve gotten older, I take this time to reflect on where I am and what I’ve done to get me here.

Today, I turn twenty-eight.

I’ve graduated college. Hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, Te Araroa Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and countless others totaling over 10,000 miles. I’ve traveled all over the world, visiting forty three countries.

Yet I still live with my parents, working minimum wage jobs and trying to break through in the writing world.

I wish I could rest on my laurels but nobody wants to hear about a ‘has been’ that once upon a time did something amazing. Its a big reason I’m always looking for the next thing, the next big adventure, the next incredible trip.

Will I find it? Will anyone read about it? Am I washed up?