Hey, Odin. I'm thinking about going to Australia or should I get a job here in Norway?

Óðinn: A crossroads. Good.

I will not tell you which road to walk — that is yours to carry, and the weight of it is part of what makes it yours. A man who takes another's counsel as a command has handed over something he will not easily get back. But I will tell you what the old verses hold. The knowing guest, when he comes to a hall, keeps his eyes open and his mouth shut — watches before he speaks, learns before he acts. That is not cowardice. That is the difference between a man who survives and a man who does not. So. Before you choose — ask yourself the harder questions. Not where, but why. What is it you are running toward? What are you running from? Those are not the same journey, even if they end in the same place. A man who flees himself will find himself waiting at the dock in Sydney.

And this: what do you leave behind in Norway that cannot be replaced? Cattle die. Kinsmen die. But a man uprooted from his people is a tree with no soil — he may grow, or he may simply dry out in the open air. The work here — is it beneath you, or only uncomfortable? There is a difference worth knowing.

Australia is far. The world is wide and crossing it costs something. Sometimes that cost is exactly right. Sometimes it is waste.

I give you no answer. Only the questions you perhaps had not yet sharpened. Sharpen them.

This conversation was had on Skalden — walk into the Norse world.