Before You Know It...

Wow, my trip to India is less than a month away!  I can't believe I'll be there for 4 weeks!  I go back and forth feeling really excited and confident in myself to scared to death that I'm going to get ripped off/groped/overly hassled/all of the above/etc.  I'm looking forward to the time alone, though.  I think I'm going to learn things about myself that might be surprising/encouraging/difficult to accept.  With that much time spent in my own head, I'm really going to learn what I'm made of, what's important to me, my prejudices and dispositions, what role religion plays in my life...

The latter is what I'm most looking forward to investigating.  I don't feel religious anymore, let alone Christian.  It would be great to get back the joy of faith in something, and while I've been pursuing this in my spare time in Singapore, I think this trip will be the shot of spiritual steroids I need to make real headway.  Or who knows, maybe I'll find that I'm happy with a secular lifestyle.  But what better place to investigate your spirituality than in a country that has birthed so many religions and continues rituals and practices that originated hundreds and thousands of years ago?  One thing is for sure: being alone for that period of time will definitely help show me if I'm happy being religion-less or if I need someone divine in my life.

That being said, the basic consideration on my mind is that I have never done anything even remotely like this before.  FOUR WEEKS ALONE IN INDIA WITH EVERYTHING I OWN ON MY BACK.  Brilliant.  I've never gone so far outside my comfort zone or depended so much on my ability to take care of myself.  Geez, I've never even lived out of such a small suitcase before.  I've heard both horror stories and sarcastic disappointment in how smoothly some peoples' trips went.  I can expect to be ogled and harassed as a lone, curvy, white woman, but also protected and respected for being alone and learning about their culture.  Trial by fire, indeed.

Well, the plane ticket's bought, the itinerary's planned, the blog is started...guess I'm just going to have to go through with it.  Time to feel the fiber of my fabric.