Are you getting Nervous? (Warning:you need to understand metaphors)

Are you getting nervous? This is probably the comment I have heard the most out of so many different people's mouths for the past several months. I think nothing makes me more nervous than people constantly asking me if I am nervous. The truth is, yes I'm nervous. I'd relate the feeling to when you see a really cute girl that's smiling at you. Your stomach is making your heart feel like a punching bag. You then realize that if you don't go for it, the opportunity will pass itself by and you'll never know what could have been.

I have plenty of things to be nervous anxious about:
How will I pack? What do I bring? How can I live in a culture and not speak their language? How do I order food? Will I like anything they have?What if I cant read the menu? Will I make new friends? Am I going to be able to keep in contact with old friends? Where do I work out? What if I dont enjoy it over there and am stuck for a year? Are they going to detain me at the airport and strip search me, finding that a man planted something suspicious in my bag, then realizing its only powdered sugar and mixed up our bags?

Of course I can let these questions consume me and never want to crawl out of my bed, or accidentally sleep through my flight but then I wont ever know if that cute girl was interested :). Sometimes you just gotta go for it and hope for the best.

How did this all happen?

How does a person go from barely traveling further west of Chicago, Illinois to traveling around the world to Japan? I talked about why I wanted to teach in Japan but thought I should share how this all went down. I was just ready to move on with my life. I can only handle subbing day to day and living in my parents basement at the age of 25 for so long. Granted if someone had asked me last year at this time do I plan to move to Japan and teach, I'd think they are crazy. Its amazing where your life can go if you take advantage of the opportunities in front of you. I first came across the opportunity at the CMU Teacher fair.

I was looking at these hundreds of recent teaching grads and all of these schools looking to round up their cattle for their next batch of teachers. I found myself going through the motions. At the end of the day, I couldn't really see myself in any of these jobs. Heck, I still wasn't sure if I could see myself as a  regular teacher. I dreaded the idea of walking into a classroom and doing the exact same thing for the next 30 years of my life. I was still looking for some adventure. I still wanted to see the world. I didn't think being a 3rd grade teacher in Podunk, Washington was going to fulfill that need.

Luckily, a representative from MeySen Academy was standing as a lone ranger during this teaching cattle call. I decided to stop by and pick up the information she had. The pamphlet was sitting on my floor until about June when I decided after the millionth rejection letter I received that I would look into the opportunity. I thought it can't hurt to apply. I went for it and had my first interview right away. Ive never really felt as good about an initial interview in my life. I really felt that this opportunity fit in perfectly with my unsettled lifestyle. It provided that unique challenge and opportunity that I was looking for. I got my second interview right away.

At this point, I knew if I really wanted to do this, I had to be all in for it. I couldn't really go for something quite like this experience if I didn't commit myself to doing this no matter what.  I stopped looking for other jobs. I didn't apply to openings I found around my home for last minute teaching jobs. I just took a leap of faith and went for the most interesting opportunity I could find.

Luckily, it all paid off/ I found out in early November that I got the job. From here, it was just a matter of paperwork and preparing for whatever lies ahead of me. I've only known for a short time that I got the job but in my mind I was leaving for Japan since last June. When I really got into it, I convinced myself that I was going to Japan. This was option A. For anyone that wants to try something similar has some passion that they want to go for, this is the best advice I can give: truly see yourself having the job and think in your mind that you already have the job even before you apply. You'd be surprised how easy it is to actually accomplish something when you've already pictured yourself getting it done.