“Nothing can be secure, because a secure life will be worse than death. Nothing is certain. Life is full of uncertainties, full of surprises—that is its beauty!” - Osho

One of the big reasons I’m a nomad is to constantly remind myself of life’s uncertainties. It’s easy to forget how quickly life can change when living in a nice apartment with the same daily routine. But things happen. Life happens.

You can get fired. You can get hit by a car crossing the street. Your friends might move away. Your significant other might break up with you. An orange man could be elected president and destroy the country your parents escaped to for a better life. You get the point.

Yet, the staying in place keeps you secure and certain. How can anything go wrong when your days are mostly the same? So when the unexpected happens, it is forced on you. You do not choose it.

As a nomad, it is the opposite. I chase the unexpected. I live for it. It is very rare that I’m truly comfortable. I’m in a foreign country, with a foreign language, currently without proper winter clothes in the summer, where the sun never sets, unsure of myself. Today I’m here, but I randomly decided to give up the little certainty I gained in this country to go to another foreign country I’ve never been to because my friend couldn’t get a visa to come visit me and my own visa to their country got rejected.

It is terrifying every time, but I choose the uncertainty. The uncertainty does not get to choose me.

“courage is risking the known for the unknown, the familiar for the unfamiliar, the comfortable for the uncomfortable, arduous pilgrimage to some unknown destination. One never knows whether one will be able to make it or not. It is gambling, but only the gamblers know what life is.” - Osho