Yesterday, I met a good friend and mentor for coffee. We’ve been friends and somewhat colleagues for a little over a year now. I did some consulting work for his company while in Buenos Aires last year. After each of our pow-wows, he has always given me the same feedback. He says, “Denise, you’re all over the place!”. He says it in such an exasperated tone that sometimes I think I’ve offended him somehow. =) But he’s right. There have always been so many places to see, so many ideas to try, so many things to learn. From a professional and personal level, I can’t be tamed right now. And I admit it.
These last 8 months of being free from corporate life have been very liberating for me. The travel bug hit very early in the process and I ran around the globe devouring every nook and cranny of Africa, Italy, Argentina, the Philippines and Indonesia that I could find. I felt like a caged bird, wanting so badly to just wander and be free. Back then, I could not foresee a time when I wouldn’t want to be traveling. It was just SO GOOD, SO FUN, SO NEW, SO EXCITING. But you know what? The desire for novel travel experiences does pass. All things pass. It’s one of the many lessons that I’ve learned during the last few years. Everything – emotions, desires, lifestyles – all come and go in cycles. And now, after eight months of living out of a backpack, I’m finally feeling the itch to rest my wings somewhere. Unbelievable, I know!
But wait! There’s a catch!
I want to rest my wings for a few months. Not forever. The idea of a one year permanence is already so hard to fathom. To keep from freaking out about “the permanence of the future” I am giving myself a three month timeline. I can handle three months staying put in one place. And this time, instead of wishing I was somewhere else, wandering another continent, I’m ready for and craving the time to work on something I’m passionate about. Monetizing my own projects has always been a pipe dream of mine and the theme this past year has been about making things happen. Just doing it! So, it’s time to turn the pipe dreams into reality. The long term travel became a reality. The language learning dream became a reality. So now let’s see what other pipe dreams can manifest themselves in the real world. =)
Whenever I have moments of panic about living such a vagabond life, I always remember a conversation that I had recently with my good friend JDC. She has turned down promotions at the accounting firm that she’s working at and instead has taken 3 month leaves of absences over the last two years to travel Asia and South America. She’s about to embark on another long term leave and when I asked her about it all, she said to me, “I have my whole life to climb the corporate ladder. I’m giving myself another three years (until I’m 30) to see the world and do whatever I feel like doing before I have to go and be responsible.” Amen to that Miss JDC. I couldn’t agree more.
Here’s to the next adventure!
