Why I decided to stay in New Zealand for longer

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The title is a little bit misleading because I don't really have a reason why I decided to stay for longer. It was more so a feeling. A really really strong gut feeling that was telling me that it wasn't time to leave yet. The old Tara would immediately throw logic into it and decide to leave because she had school waiting for her in September and there was no reason to extend a trip that she had no plan of extending. But…this wasn't the same woman making this decision, was it? As excited as I was for grad school, I knew one thing. That opportunities like this don't come often. I seized the opportunity to solo travel and I had made the most of it so far but why stop there? I confided in my friend Ritchie when I was deciding what to do. I met Ritchie during a weekend trip to Mount Maunganui (a small town off the East coast of the North Island). Ritchie is so intelligent and just makes so much sense when he talks that I knew that he was someone I had to talk to about this. Although Ritchie is from NZ, he is so well travelled that I knew he would understand this feeling I was experiencing. When I asked him what he would do, he said this: NZ isn't going anywhere, school isn't going anywhere. Realistically, you can always come back to NZ, or you can always stay and go to school later. But one thing that is quickly running out is your working holiday visa (because you only get it once). If you think that you can enjoy NZ in the same way that you are now, later on in life, then leave. If you think that no other experience (even travelling later on in life) can come close to being so involved in the NZ lifestyle, then stay, finish the term to your visa and school will be waiting for you. Sure, Ritchie might have been biased because we get along great and he wanted me to stay, but he did make a lot of sense and he only validated what I was already thinking and feeling. Before I had finalized this decision, I wanted to make sure school was okay with me deferring my offer by a year. Lucky for me, they were okay with it and let me start my masters the following september. Telling mom and dad was a bit tough because I could sense the nervousness in their voices during the call. Mom especially was really eager to see me and this decision meant she'd have to wait quite a while. In the end, they came around and understood that I had to do this for myself.
Before I came to NZ, I was all about doing things and moving on to the next stage quickly. Go to university, get my degree, go to grad school, get a job, have a thriving career, maybe a family of my own, etc.etc. But now I've learnt that this isn't really what makes me happy - constantly living for the next chapter. I'm not saying theres anything wrong with having goals and being excited about new milestones but I want to enjoy each and every day of THIS chapter. I still have goals and I will still work towards them but there is no rush. The competition and need to do things fast has been drilled in our heads since a very young age (its really society's fault) and I don't want to look back on my life later on and feel as though I didn't get to enjoy the moments in between these cookie cutter milestones.

At the end of the day, I can say that this experience - travelling solo, plucking up the courage to seize this opportunity with both hands even though a part of me wanted to do the more conventional things expected of me - has been my greatest accomplishment so far.

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