It's now seven months later as I write this. A lot of me has changed, and a lot of me has stayed the same.
I think the best part of my journey is that I don't consider it over. Something special started the day I boarded that plane to the Bahamas with The Cycling Adventures of Coconut Head in hand, and whatever it is, it's far from reaching a conclusion.
The things I believed important -- the things to which I attached value and on which I based my ego -- those things are not so important to me any more. Career, ambition, stuff -- they do not necessarily bring about happiness. John is in his early thirties, losing his hair, has no job, and is living in a tent in his mother's basement. And, he's so full of love and happiness that you can almost see it flowing out of him. He lives his life as an adventure, and opens his arms to what the world brings him. I admire those traits in him more than any intelligence or ambition I may possess. Six weeks of living with all your worldly possessions within an arm's length teaches you a lot.
All the same, a lot of my life has stayed the same. A month after returning home I started another job as a software engineer, making more money and buying more stuff. I've managed to gain back the fifteen pounds I'd lost on the trip. I'm still the same quiet, observant person as before. Now, I'm just a little more confused, trying to reconcile everything I've experienced in the past year with everything I'd learned in the 23 years before that.
I think, fundamentally, that's what my ongoing journey is all about: taking the preconceptions I've built up all my life, and putting them to the test. So far, watching them fail that test has been a truly wonderful experience.