I did tell those who needed to know that I was going to be away. I even told them I would be in Scotland. I emphasized that this wasn't a vacation. Everyone nodded, and a few looked like they understood.

Of course, what I couldn't have told anyone, including myself, was the full Odyssey the trip would become.

Getting myself ready was surprisingly easy. A big case. A little case. A backpack. For me, this was a win.

I was dropped off at Bangor International. If you've ever flown out of Bangor, you understand the blessing this little airport offers. No lines. No waiting. Sometimes ridiculous security screenings—admittedly, that happens everywhere. I sat. I waited. I boarded without incident.

Then I arrived in Philadelphia.

Have you ever gotten a call from somewhere deep inside yourself? A gut feeling that made absolutely no sense to your logical mind? Or simply known something without being able to explain how you knew it?

Have you ever wondered if those moments meant you were being irrational? Or worse, if you admitted them out loud, people might quietly wonder if you'd lost your grip on reality? It's an odd thing to worry about in such an "evolved" society.

But perhaps we're not quite as evolved as we'd like to believe.

Or perhaps our evolution has come at a cost.

This sort of thing has happened to me my entire life. When I was younger, I rarely spoke about what I was feeling or intuiting. Even into adulthood, I found myself making important decisions based on what I can only describe as a deep knowing. It was frustrating because I couldn't always explain those decisions in ways that satisfied other people—or even myself.

Take my divorce. I could give reasons, of course. Rational reasons. But they never told the whole story. There was something underneath the words, quietly insisting that it was time to go.

At the time, I didn't have language for that experience. No one had told me there was another way of knowing besides thinking. I hadn't yet learned that there are parts of ourselves we've slowly been taught to ignore—through education, culture, or simply the pace of modern life.