I could have missed out on big lessons and big wins because I decided not to take a risk. Maybe that’s the riskiest thing of all. Because who knows — my $5 could turn into $500, $1000 or a billion dollars. Probably not a billion, but still — little bets can go a long way. 

What I wrote in my journal abroad didn’t seem worth sharing since many entries were half-formed thoughts. But there’s more there than I initially realized. I wrote for the hell of it — which, I think, is the best type of writing. Now, I'm diving into my unfiltered journal entries from abroad — they’re raw, real and vulnerable.