There has to be more to life than right here, right now.

Do not get me wrong, by no means have I jumped head first off the cliff of adventure. I would like to think I have peaked my toes over the edge, inching toward the freedom that accompanies the unknown with the decisions I have made thus far in my 20 years on Earth.

Growing up in a small town, I was self-absorbed into my own world consisting of my high school friends, classmates, sports teams and academics (most of the time). Until I turned 17 during my senior year of high school, I never questioned life beyond the bubble I lived in.

Naturally, I was drawn toward the one university my parents did not want to send me to. From a small town outside Boston, attending a university in North Carolina was not exactly my parents first choice for their oldest “independent” daughter. Well in my eyes I was certainly independent, desiring for a new chapter in my life, more than what my hometown had to offer me. Despite the fact that I had no job, shared a car with my brother and lived in my parent's house — I couldn't be held back!

College down south? No big deal, I’m from Bahston and I’m wicked tough. I knew deep down in my heart I had to go — I needed to discover who I was away from home and who I really wanted to be.

But the truth is, you are never going to be ready to go. There is no such thing as being ready, you just have to do it. Timing in life is essential, and if you do not learn to take risks, then you will miss out on all the opportunities, experiences and people destined to cross your path.

Maybe I was destined to attend a university so far away and meet my best friends, maybe I wasn’t. However, I did know that I was destined for a life that could not be fulfilled by staying in my comfort zone. Traveling has opened my eyes up to millions of amazing people in the world — I cannot imagine what it would be like to have all of the people I love in only one place.

I’m so lucky that I have friends all over the country, all over the world. These people have made me realized that there is so much more to life than what you know — the best way to discover who you really are is to intertwine the best parts of you with the best parts of other people you will find along the way.

New York, California, Texas, Spain and London have all touched my heart through the amazing souls that have crossed my path. I hope to do the same, so one day, people will speak more highly about mass-holes.

Now I know why people travel the world, we are searching for something. For some, it’s a sense of belonging in a city that never sleeps, a person whose beauty has no comparison, a job that makes us feel worthy — a life that is engulfed by an addictive sense of adventure and true happiness that is seemingly lost in our generation of social media addicts.

Addicted to the happiness, I receive from my relationships with other people, I have developed a newfound urgency to travel the world. Going abroad to London this fall intimidates me, but I cannot think of anything more important than learning about myself through my experiences with others.

Traveling and meeting other people ignites our own sense of appreciation for humankind, lighting a spark within us — happiness IS attainable only through our purest relationships with one another, not material discrepancies.

We are all searching for something. We may go our whole lives without finding it or maybe we will find it very soon if we have not already. Believe me, sometimes you are actually looking at yourself — you must become the best version of yourself first.

Search the whole world until you realize that whatever you are looking for has been there all along. If you have searched the whole world for yourself or for someone who makes you want to believe in all the magic life has to offer and haven’t found it yet, then take a closer look at what is right in front of you.

The secret to happiness? Find someone who makes you feel like you already have the whole world when you look into their eyes.