On August 12th last year, we moved into Samwise the Brave to embark on a journey around the 50 states. Throughout this year, we’ve spent considerable time soaking in where we are and planning where to go next. The places we explored, the borders we crossed, and the long travel days we kept each other company with our thoughts and anxieties and ideas — we never imagined one year of life could be this fulfilling and this energizing.

During a recent drive, we discussed a piece in Medium that said the cure to burnout is experiencing “profound and utter awe.” The most compelling example is the perspective shift astronauts gain after seeing the earth from space and feeling a “universal connectedness” that transforms how they think about their lives. Having just left the jaw-dropping scenery of Niagara Falls and Toronto and finding ourselves perched above the great blue strait between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan on the Mackinac Bridge, we couldn’t help but breathe a collective breath of awe.

This sense of awe has fed us and fueled us this year. Every mountain, canyon, and roaring waterfall. Every sunset, skyline, and capitol dome. Every week had something in store that amazed and renewed us. String 52 of those weeks together, and you get the opposite of burnout — a year of burnin.

In place of complacency, we now know the empowering feeling of taking deliberate steps toward goals we set ourselves. In place of spectating others or wishing to have done something, we now push each other to do it and not feel shame if it turns out it’s not something we enjoy doing. In place of seeking external validation, we try to keep the fire of what truly matters lit on the inside.

There are so many ways full-time RVing has strengthened us as people, as a married couple, and as citizens of this country. Looking forward to the next chapter of our life in Denver after we wrap up our journey next month, we’re grateful and excited to carry the fire into the future!