My son Jackson moved to Tokyo this year to take a position as a software engineer with a Japanese firm that create video portals ‘that feel like teleportation’. He had followed the young company since college and loved their innovation. He packed up everything and moved from Long Beach to Tokyo. Growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, the majority of kids from his high school stayed on the east coast close to home for college. He left for Occidental in Los Angeles. Then, he attended the University of Oslo in Norway and completed a master’s degree in Music, Communication and Technology. My son has little fear when it comes to having new experiences or heading out on his own.

He reminds me of myself. Out of high school I went on a five year surfing stint before college, which included a move to Hawaii, a few broken surfboards, a shark encounter, painful sea urchin spines embedded in my foot and 16 stitches across the bridge of my nose, as well as some of the best experiences of my life. At 34, I moved from Florida to North Carolina when I fell in love with Jackson’s dad, and at 62 I headed to Southern California not knowing a single soul.

It’s not easy to head out on your own. It takes stamina, confidence, resilience and a big dose of intuition, but the rewards are immense. When you think about it, it pushes you to every limit and out of every comfort zone. It throws you off balance and into the unknown. But, it also allows you to see the world through larger eyes. You become more independent, self-sufficient and open to new experiences, new friends and new skills (like learning Japanese or Norwegian). When you immerse yourself in different cultures or lifestyles, you gain a greater understanding of this beautiful world.

To be truthful it is also darn thrilling. When I first moved to California I drove down the Pacific Coast Highway with the magnificent ocean to the west and my windows rolled down, shouting out with joy, “I live in California!”

Jackson camped overnight on his own this past weekend along the Tama River which flows down from Mount Kasatori outside of Tokyo. He explored the mountains and settled in for the night along the river in his small blue tent, surrounded by trees, with only the crickets and cicadas as his companions. At 5:30 in the morning, before boarding his train back to the city, he jumped in the freezing river, because why not?

What a brief journey this life is. You really don’t want to miss out.