My Life on the Road

efforts to be both their unique selves and to find a community.

There are also natural gifts of an on-the-road life. For instance, witnessing the northern lights in Colorado, or walking under a New Mexico moon bright enough to reveal the lines in my palm, or hearing the story of a solitary elephant in a Los Angeles zoo reunited with an elephant friend of many years before, or finding myself snowed into Chicago

choosing spontaneity over certainty.

If you find yourself drawn to an event against all logic, go. The universe is telling you something.

human beings have an almost infinite capacity for adapting to the expectations around us—which is both the good and the bad news.

they were neither crazy nor alone in their

MY SECOND PURPOSE IS to encourage you to spend some time on the road, too. By that, I mean traveling—or even living for a few days where you are—in an on-the-road state of mind, not seeking out the familiar but staying open to whatever comes along. It can begin the moment you leave your door.