It’s hard to begin to sum up what Antarctica means to me.

It’s more of a feeling, too magical to write, but it’s in my heart. When I think of Antarctica, my heart flutters. Butterflies fly and I feel immensely blessed. 

Antarctica is one of the highlights of my life and for many reasons.

But, perhaps the most important reason is that I found myself there.

I found myself there on a cruise ship, I found myself in a cup of hot rum chocolate, I found myself in the cold crisp of the morning wind, I found myself in the snow miles below a blue glacier, I found myself in the sound of a penguin’s call and in the eyes of a leopard seal and in the flip of the tail of a humpback whale. I found myself behind the lens of my camera and in front of it. I found myself in the silence of wonderment over one of God’s greatest creation. 

In Antarctica, you never leave yourself there physically because that would be a selfish endeavor, but you leave your heart.

And my heart is sitting in the curves of a glacier, waiting for me to return while begging me to never forget my sacred vow to protect the beautiful land it now lives in.  

As I struggle to write what it meant to me to spend five days on the white continent, I’ll leave you with a ten-minute video stringing together five-second increments of my days there.

After watching this video, feel free to share it. Perhaps you can inspire someone to travel there and inspire more to dedicate some of their resources to protect it. Antarctica protects us and it deserves our attention. 

“Antarctica has this mythic weight. It resides in the collective unconscious of so many people, and it makes this huge impact, just like outer space. It’s like going to the moon.” 

-Jon Krakuer 

Interested in helping Antarctica? Check out these organizations:

• The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition
• Defenders of Wildlife 
• World Wildlife Fund
• Oceanites
• Greenpeace – Oceans Campaign
• WDC
• The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
• & many more!