Into the wild

I´d like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been to hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conversatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality
nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences , and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. (...)

Don´t settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living. My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, ans all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are
fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances. (...)

You will see things and meet people and there is much to learn from them. And you must do it economic style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely. I hope that the next time I see you, you will be a man with a vast array of new adventures and experiences behind you. Don´t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. (...)

Letter Alex McCandless to Ron Franz, from: Jon Krakauer. Into the wild. London 1998. p.57-59.