Day 76: The finish line

It is late and and I am sitting in my bunk in the heart of Tokyo.  I have officially trekked from Osaka to Tokyo, loosely following the Tokaido road from history.  It took me 10 weeks, with lots of stops along the way.

It has been a long, surprising and complicated journey.  By my rough math I have walked over 1000 kilometers, with about half coming from the trail itself, and the other from the constant exploration I was compelled to do on my off days. Hell, I'd walked over 150km before I even left Osaka.

But, here I am. So many roads and places behind me. So many days of physical and mental pains. So many chance discoveries and new friends made along the way.

I'm not sure how I thought I would feel when I got here, but depressed wasn't on the list of guesses.

I had hoped that I would feel happy, or a sense of accomplishment after such a long and difficult challenge, but I am mostly just bummed out as it feels like the end of something great.

There is still a lot of time left for me here in Japan, as I have hit my scheduled goal and arrived with two weeks left before I fly out.  This gives me a lot of time to explore a massive city filled with wonderful things.

This gives me a lot of time to change gears.

I know that right now I am tired, in every respect.  My body, for all the benefits of this prolonged exercise, is not without its injuries and pains. Carrying my pack comes easily now, where months ago it was torture, but the weight it adds creates pains. I have strained and injured myself on ways that will take months to fully heal.

My mind and body have becomes used to a rhythm that suddenly must change.  So naturally there is negative feelings first. Change is rarely easy.

With a few days rest and relaxation, I know my feelings will change, and the more positive thoughts will overshadow the negative ones.

Along the way I have had a great deal of time to think, and consider what my next steps are, both in terms of how to move forward on the road, and how to move forward with my life.

This time has given me the space to explore a lot of ideas I had not given much room to flourish before.  There are many possibilities for what might come next for me, with one standing above the rest: I want to take time now to write a book before I dive back into life as a developer again.

This has been something in the back of my mind for a few years now, and something I've always put aside for lack of time. A full time job has a way of crushing everything around it if you let it - and I am guilty of that to be certain.

I feel wholely unqualified to write a book, for many and varied reasons, but I also feel like I have a specific idea that is worth creating.  As I have thought about the notion of writing this book with the time afforded to me here, it has moved from being a hazy idea in the back of my head to something I can see clearly now. This book is something that excites me and fills my mind with a plethora of new thoughts and ideas.

My instinct is to start researching, start planning, start reaching out to contacts to get advice and guidance. And in time all those things will happen. But not quite yet.

I want to let this moment end properly first. Let myself naturally unwind and hopefully let the scope of what I have just finished sink in. There is no need to rush into the next thing just yet. 

For now I will think back on the many friends I have made on the road, the fantastic things I have seen and done on this journey, and get some sleep without setting an alarm for the crack of dawn.