Dreams and travels

A prompt from The Daily Post is:

Tell us about something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail and why you haven’t tried it yet.

"I want to be a vet!"

I have loved animals for as long as I can remember and vividly remember my animal-crazy stages which shifted from cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, horses, lizards, penguins, lions and about a thousand other different animals. I was adamant I would be a vet when I grew up and even knew which university I'd attend to make my dream come true.

However, when I was thirteen I realised vets had to put down animals and in my young and naive eyes, that was equivalent to murder and I couldn't handle something as weighty as that. It didn't even take a minute for my dream to crash down into splinters.

But still, I loved animals and continued loving them to this day. I'm now studying interactions between animals and their environments and I love it. I'm a biology person and I'm always looking towards learning more about life. When I learned humans originated from Africa, I wanted to go there so badly. It made me want to go there more just because of the amazing wildlife and culture.

"South Africa has always been the dream!"

I can't explain it but I've always wanted to go to South Africa. I don't really know what's there or what it's like or even how far it is from Australia but I know it's beautiful and it's where I have to be at least once in my life. I can't explain to anyone why I want to go or why it has to be South Africa. But my wordlessness seems to get the message across and people say it must mean it's meant to be.

I hope so. I've never been before because of the dangers of travelling by myself and my parents are pretty strict about stuff like that.

But... I'm going next year!

I signed up with a volunteer organisation and I will be doing conservation and humanitarian work in South Africa. I thought my parents were going to blow their tops off but they were so chill I thought they thought I wasn't serious.

When I said, "Yeah, I'm going to South Africa." They were like, "Yeah, okay."

So I'd say the only reasons keeping me from my dream was money and anxiety. But I work so I can afford this luxury and my parents couldn't care less now (I don't think they love me anymore, sob).