How can anyone go through life being happy with what they’re initially given?! Don’t get me wrong: appreciate it, but don’t settle on what you’ve been given. Work with it. Gain from it, but never settle. Here’s what I don’t get…

The world is a big place, with sights, sounds, tastes and touches that I can’t even begin to describe because I’ve never experienced them. How can anyone go through life without having even left their city? State? Region? Country? I don’t fucking get it. How can people live out their entire lives without going on an adventure?! I know this sounds stupid to some, and I’m no Indiana-Fucking-Jones myself, but the principal still applies: why do some people feel content without having a journey in their life!? Taking a trip is seldom about the destination. Flying half way around the world isn’t something that most people do every day. It’s out of the ordinary. It’s a quest of sorts. And when you come back, even if it was simply to see the Eiffel Tower, experience real French cuisine, and spend a metric fuck-ton of money on bullshit tourist items… it was an adventure. It was memories. At the end we can all lay on our death beds, look at the next generation sitting beside us and say, “Yeah, I did that.” We get one shot at this fucked up life and it seems like all anyone wants to do is stay at home and watch the fucking paint peel off the walls.

For fuck’s sake, people, get out of your poor excuse for a life and go fucking do something with it. Build memories. Visit sights. Try new cuisines. Experience new cultures. Meet new people. Find love. Lose love. Spend money on stupid fucking things. It’s not like you can take that paper with you.

“But Rob, I have no money or means to accomplish this.”

Look, here’s the thing… if you want something bad enough, you have to just fucking do it. Hate your life? Fix it. It’s pretty simple. Ed McMahon is not going to show up on your doorstep tomorrow with a check for ten million dollars. It’s simply not going to happen, so stop waiting for something amazing to happen to you and make something amazing happen to you. Don’t like your job? Go get a new one that makes you glad to wake up in the morning. Don’t like the clothes you wear or the car you drive? Do something about it. Throw away your old ones without a second thought and you’ll suddenly find that you need to go get new ones. Bored? Learn a new language, get a hobby, pick up something constructive. Stop wasting away in front of the television. Watching Discovery Channel does not make you world-educated.

Admittedly, I like television. It’s entertaining. But I also enjoy lots of other things. Traveling is a huge thing for me now. I love it. I can’t wait to get a little money together, a week of vacation and just fly somewhere I’ve never been. Monaco, Japan, Germany, England, Australia… I will have visited all of them before too long. Why? Because life is meant to be interesting. Because Americans aren’t the only people on this planet. Because Illinois is a wasteland lacking culture. Because I want an adventure.

Never settle.