Scared + Excited = Scarited?

In reading the blog of a guy I really respect, a man named Conor who spent a year traveling around the world and then opened up an orphanage in Nepal, I came across this passage in the linked post:

"There was only one overwhelming rule about life in general that I discovered on this trip – everything is much scarier before you do it than when you actually do it. It is uncanny. That may be pretty useless advice, perhaps, but for me personally, if I can remember that – really remember it, I mean – I think I’ll be a lot more adventurous in my life."

I hope this proves to be true, because right now I'm scared. Really scared. And it's not a Oh-Shit-Is-That-A-Ghost 'scared'. It's a 'scared' born from a long, drawn-out, faint pulse of fear that jumps alive whenever I think about this trip. When you couple this fear pulse with excitement, you're left with a lightheaded feeling not unlike the feeling you get before you meet students and teach the first class of a new school year. But this doesn't go away. I would say it's cool--the buzz-ness of it--but seriously, it doesn't go away.

With each passing day and each blog or book related to bike touring I come across, the following thought seeps further and further into my consciousness:

I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when it comes to bike touring or bike maintenance.

Some of the backwoods repairs people have had to do while touring scare the shit out of me. I have never once changed a flat tire on my own bike! Ever! And I'm going to ride to Cairo!!! !!!

I'll learn. I'll learn. I'll learn. The whole point of this trip is to learn. Learn everything I can wrap my brain around. Including bike maintenance.

I have to keep telling myself: Everything is scarier before it begins. If I wasn't scared, this wouldn't be exciting and rewarding.

scared (in a healthy way) in front of my computer,

Andrew