I'm seventeen and on my last year of high school. I had an idea that when I finish my year of high school, the summer after graduation, since I turn eighteen near the end of school in march, and would be a very young adult, that I want to leave home for a while maybe a week or a month just to get away and think of what I'm going to do in life and get my philosophical side out of me. I am having issues with living life and focusing on anything be ause all I can think about is what ifs and try to find an answer in every religion and science piece I can find about if there is life after death or not.. anyway I want to leave and live independent on the road for a while, taking nothing but a bag with water, clothes, and my phone just in case. I don't know why but I just want to have the feeling of survival, knowing that what I do is up to me and no one else, just to see what it's like to have that freedom, of course I am thinking about the dangers of having no where to rest and people who could do harm but I just want to know if what I'm wanting is normal and what it's called if there is a name for such a thing. I will of course ask my mother though it would be up to me since by that time I would be an adult but I need someone's thoughts. This is an insanely long question so I understand if no one replys but I think what triggered this was when my mother asked my friend and I why we don't go outside anymore and we left that night as she was going to bed, she only said to not do anything stupid, all we did was walk around town and go to our old middle schools football field to throw a ball, which was illegal for me since our town has a curfew for minors to be out at ten but we left at eleven and stayed out till three, we even waved at some police as they drove by. The point is, is what I want to do safe or right?

Safety is an illusion. It is a frail idea that we are constantly embracing through primal need. We put in measures to mitigate unsafe situations in the hopes that they'll work if needed. Car locks, security systems, bars on windows, gated communities, rape whistles, hand guns, and a hundred other items to increase our own safety. They're not even close to exhaustive or perfect. There are situations where that just isn't enough.

Is what you're wanting to do safe? No. Not even a little bit. It doesn't say if male or female but it isn't safe for either but especially females. Will anything really happen to you? Probably not. Will you receive enlightenment? Probably not. Will it be a good growth experience? Yup. This is really something you need to talk to your parents about, but your plans and why.

I am a Atheist. The question of what comes after death scares me and it has for the last 20 years. The problem is that there is no answer. It is the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveller returns; puzzles the will and makes us accept the ills we have than to fly to ones we know not of. (+10 points if you recognize the quote). I have contemplated oblivion, nothing, the end of everything and it scares the ever loving crap out of me. It makes me understand the attractiveness of an afterlife because it is easier to accept than nothing it allows my mind to focus on more current problems than a philosophical meandering on existence. I know you've probably done a lot of reading, but I think it might be beneficial to sit down and talk with people. Priests, Imams, Atheists, Buddhists, Sikhs, Rabbis, Hindus, Shinto, and anyone you can talk to. It will give you knowledge, but in the end it is something you're going to have to come to terms on your own. A trip finding yourself isn't going to do it.

Good luck.

How do you plan to pay for any of this. Becoming an adult means taking on adult responsibilities, and the includes getting a job to pay for everything you do.

Having to pay for everything you do out of your own money will put a voice of reason to a lot of the fatasies a young person has, and will keep you grounded in reality.

As Craven points out, there is a LOT of stuff that's not safe... in fact there are very few safe things. At your age and the fact you've been sheltered from reality by your parents your entire life. (its what parents do everywhere to keep their children safe until they have a fighting chance in the real world).

Personally, I think what you are planning to do at this point in your life is incredibly dangerous, and also incredibally short sighted. Because you really don't have the street smarts or the knowledge of things that would minimise the risks you would be facing. The list of all of them are far too long to even list in a forum post and you are basically oblivious to almost all of them at this point.

Picture Bambi walking into a den of hungry wolves if bambi had no idea what a wolf was and what they did because they had never seen one.

Yeah... pretty harsh, but I've seen a lot of very ugly things in my adult life... and I have no doubt there are those that have seen far more than I have.

As far as religious significance aspect to this all... I'm a Protestant but I don't preach to anyone, I believe its something one has to find from within. Also as a risk management aspect. If aetheits are right and there is nothing else, nobody will ever know, if there is then you will know then, and pay for your decisions in this life. Its what you can live with and what you decide.

Thank you, it's nice to get a helpful answer from intelligent people which the two of you definitely don't fall short on. I will leave the wandering for when I know for a fact I can sustain myself.

Mirkhaul,Canadian youth are well known for sand under their feet, and several of them have finished high school, after saving up their money from part time jobs throughout. Took off for Europe, worked their way through and thoroughly enjoyed themselves and came back safely.

If this is what you want to do, your horizons will be immense when you come back; super knowledge of the world and new languages to boot.

I wish you luck, but take, time, work a bit to save your money and then go and enjoy yourself.

Oh by the way, from my son touring Europe at that time, came home and got a wonderful job offer from Germany, knows three languages fluently and has a wonderful life.

Take your time and good luck.

Thank you tickle, I will do just that, so many places I want to go to and experience the culture and language they have.

Take your time, you have lots of it. Your goals are so much similar to what I hear from young people around our area.

I like your idea of taking time alone but I would ditch the "only the clothes on your back' mindset. It is hard to o be reflective if you are in fear or hungry, exhausted or worried. Get a job after school, save up, think of a place you would enjoy going (tour of Europe?) and plan an itinerary and budget. You will have enough of an experience of survival and independence just traveling on your own in unfamiliar places. Consider youth hostels where you can stay cheap and meet other people doing something similar. And don't feel pressured to figure out faith and eternity and all that. Be open to it, study it, but maybe focus on figuring out what you enjoy and what interests you so you can plan what you want to do next.