The Importance of Stupid Decisions

First off, I want to tell you that high-school is a monster. It takes large bites out of your life, swallowing you down until you begin to think that there is nothing left, that this may be all there is.
It turns out there actually is more, and I, as a High School Senior, am just beginning to realize that.

A few days ago, one of my classmates, with whom I had not spoken much in the past, said he was going to drive to California for next summer, and invited me to come with him. Me? The stiff, quiet kid who wears button-up shirts to school, and has never been anywhere or done anything 'crazy?' Of course, I treated it as if it were like a joke, and sort of blew it off.

But then I got to thinking...
Lately, I've been bombarded by one college after another sending me mail. 'Come to our college,' they all say, 'We've chosen you. We have the best options. You should definitely choose us.' If I believed all of them, I would end up enrolled for classes at about twenty different Colleges and Universities, and I don't even know how I will afford college in the first place.
I'm not easily bothered by much, but I have to say the pressure was beginning to get to me, especially since I don't even know what I might want to major in.

So, one night I was unable to sleep because of the thoughts and worries in my mind, and my sleep depraved mind began to actually consider this idea. And the odd thing is, the more I thought about it, the less crazy it began to sound. Here I was, trying to make the biggest decision of my life up to that point, and I was actually considering running off to California for a few weeks instead? And with someone I barely knew, no less.

But it's not quite so crazy as it might sound. Whatever college I choose could easily affect me for the next ten years or more, but before I make a life altering decision, I want to know what I'm giving up. Before I commit my foreseeable future to any one thing, I want to live, do something reckless, something I've never really even considered a possibility. I want to do something that will vary my life experience, and give me a framework to build the rest of my life off of.
I am still going to be trying to make a decision, but I'm not going to let the decision own me. I will no longer allow this to keep me up at night and steal my peace of mind.

I encourage everyone to do the same. Try something different, imagine something crazy, impossible, and make it happen. Get out. Live your life and don't tie yourself down until you have to. It doesn't matter if you have no real plans. We're just going to save up some money and see where the road takes us.
Anywhere, Everywhere.
It's incredible how freeing the decision to do something ridiculous can be.

So what are your plans? What's something that you would like to do, but have dismissed it as crazy, or impossible? If you don't have anything right away, think of something. Don't be afraid to be creative.
Tell me about your crazy, reckless ideas, I'd love to hear them.

-The Man Behind the Curtain