I should have been on a train back home, hours ago. Instead, I was standing under the looming flicker of the departures board, weary of the word should. Suitcases packed, stacked and shipped, I had just enough to escape. I needed, more than anything, to escape. Sharp inhale. Dial.

“I’m going to Europe.” I announced. The words flowed breathlessly. The silence that followed seemed to stretch beyond speechlessness – I could hear the disbelief, the incredulity in the void. Then came the arguments and finally, the rush of acceptance. “Call us every day, okay? I mean it. Be safe. We love you.”

The departure from my ordinary life defined what I have come to view as a moment of triumph. Staunchly rooted in order and routine, quiet anxiety steadily mounted and just as steadily wore me down. It crescendoed to such volumes that it became unbearable to remain in the status quo. I knew where I should have been going, but I was still perpetually lost. Maybe it was fate, or maybe it was just well-timed marketing, but as I walked to the train station, suitcases in tow, an advertisement caught my eye: “Let Yourself Go”. And so, with saved earnings, a window of free time and luck with travel regulations, the question, rather than ‘why?’, became ‘why not?’.

Neither the tedium of airport bureaucracy nor the cramped seating dampened my lifted spirits. Not the type of person to pursue spur-of-the-moment intercontinental travel, I was giddy with the spirit of spontaneity. Wondering about what lies around the corner became far more liberating than knowing what rests ahead. This was freedom in the truest sense, unfettered by the limits of pragmatism.

In the weeks that followed, I witnessed Europe’s effortless charm by not only seeing the obligatory sights but also by talking with the people. For the first time, I was free to explore the broadness of the world as well as examine what had been the narrowness of my life. I felt that the segue of old-world cobblestone into sleek asphalt reflected my habit of restraint and my newfound abandon: two sides of the same road, joined into one path that paves my journeys, through Europe and through life. From the warmth and kindness of strangers who extended themselves, to exercising my self-reliance and ingenuity, my jaunt abroad left me no longer suffocating, but breathless.

My impromptu adventure created a haven from stress and a window into self-discovery. Kierkegaard once said, “To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself,” and my journey has enabled me to grasp the sense of his words. Mapping a life is impossible, despite my best efforts to do so. Life, in all of its glorious complexity, cannot be truncated to a Google calendar or a “to-do” list. Now, I see a day of possibilities instead of plans. By reclaiming an autonomy, I ultimately reclaimed my joie de vivre. As serendipities and misfortunes come and go without warning, a deviation from the word should brought me to unexpected places that have ultimately changed me for the better.

I didn’t know exactly where I was going, but through wanderlust I found my path. Now I find myself ask “why not?”.

文书分析

“来一次说走就走的旅行。”

每次读到这样突如其来的决定时刻，我们常常会油然产生一种烂漫和随意的感觉，很羡慕这些幸运儿能够有机会和勇气去摆脱日常的庸俗而奔向诗和远方。从这个角度来说，这篇文书在话题选择上比较容易引起读者的共鸣。

不仅如此，作者还巧妙地从做出决定前最彷徨的时刻动笔。走，还是不走，他正在站牌下犹豫不决，最后深深吸了一口气，开始拨打电话……开头的两个自然段，像是一把钩子，把读者牢牢地吸引住，让他们接着往下读完全文。

在正文部分，作者把叙事节奏放慢，先描述自己的心理活动多么愉悦，然后再分析这次旅行中自己的习得和感悟。在申请文书中，无论要谈的话题是大是小，招生官希望看到你是如何感受、思考、学习和行动，以及在这个过程中获得了什么。令人印象深刻的是，跟开头相比，作者在思想上获得更高的升华，这次心血来潮的旅行不仅仅是一次发泄压力的行为，而且更进一步认识到人生不是规划，在未知的时间和地点有无限的可能性在等待着。

最后，结尾干净利落，没有丝毫的拖泥带水。我们每个人都可以来一次说走就走的旅行，why not?