A stranger’s advice.

“One thing I can say,” she began as I set her latte in front of her and slid her a lid, “is don’t wait. I’ve been to thirty-eight countries on my own. I would’ve never seen that much of the world had I waited to be with a man or all my friends gotten their schedules in order. I would’ve never. Don’t wait on anyone.”

Every now and then a stranger says something that sticks—in this case it was a customer at the coffee shop I work at. She began some conversation with a coworker of mine as I pulled the espresso for her latte and steamed the milk. I didn’t hear how she got to this point, but I heard the punchline: “don’t wait.”

It seems like cheesy and ubiquitous advice—akin to the “dance like no one’s watching” and the “be all that you can be” wall art hanging in your aunt’s bathroom, but it was shared with such conviction that it made me stop.

I’ve been to a few places, but I’ve dabbled in a very small amount of solo travel compared to many others I know. I’ve never lived in a foreign nation on my own for an extended period of time, I’ve never skipped around Europe with just a bag and a passport, but the allure of a lifestyle of immersing myself in to a completely different culture is a terribly romantic proposition.

Perhaps one day you’ll email me and find that I’ve left everything and am wearing flowy pants, tending to my garden in Bali or maybe I’ll live happily in my home state until I die. Either way, this stranger’s advice of “don’t wait” inspired me beyond flirting with a nomadic existence.

It was as if her words said to quit waiting in every area—in everything I’ve put on hold or just haven’t mustered the energy to begin. Starting is the hardest part—not the only part, but the hardest part.

While I’m not really one to quit my job, drop everything, and pack my bags—I’m too much of a planner for that—I am revisiting the things I keep saying I want to do. Now is as good a time as any, right?