I Started by Heading North

January 16, 2026

I Started by Heading North

For a long time, my world was small.

Not physically small, but comfortable. Predictable. I sat in my safe home, on a familiar couch, watching other people live through a screen. YouTube became a window into places I hadn’t been and lives I wasn’t quite brave enough to step into.

I always thought of myself as adventurous. I told myself I still was.
But somewhere along the way, comfort quietly replaced curiosity.

The older I got, the easier it became to choose what was known over what was possible.

This is the story of how that changed.

At forty-three, I sold almost everything I owned and moved from Australia to Canada. No grand plan. No dramatic reinvention. Just a decision that felt heavier the longer I avoided it.

I headed north.

Not because I knew exactly what I was running toward, but because I knew what I was standing still inside. Canada wasn’t a destination in the traditional sense. It was a line in the sand. A reset. A way to remind myself that movement still mattered.

Standing at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, with everything I needed strapped to my back, it finally clicked.

This wasn’t about escape.
It was about choosing curiosity again.

This journal isn’t about ticking countries off a list or chasing constant motion. It’s about the space between stability and uncertainty. Between staying put and stepping forward. Between heading north, and eventually, going south.

Slow stories from the road.
Told deliberately.

This is where it begins.

Yukon, Canada

Yukon, Canada