Hooray! I just received news that I was accepted to talk about my past year adventure at Ignite San Francisco later this month. I’m so excited (and nervous)! GULP! I just hope the audience will enjoy 5 minutes of Stanley pictures!! Just kidding, I think I have some things to say. 🙂
Here’s what I said to get in:
Long story short. I’ve been on an adventure.
For much of my early-40-ish life, I’d always done the “right” thing. The good schools, the advanced degrees, the stressful jobs. All along the way, I dreamed of other paths I wasn’t taking. I collected lists of things I’d wished that I’d done. I regretted that I, for some reason, stayed away from activities that weren’t “aligned with my education,” and so I missed out on living with true purpose.
Somewhere way back in 2014, I decided to make a change. And what I decided on was this: I would hit the road and live somewhere new every month. Every month, I’d go to a new town and strike a fine balance between really living like a “local” AND taking in all of the sites that only a tourist can still recognize. So, I prepared by saving and building up a business that allowed me to work from anywhere. And 1 year later, I put my stuff in storage and walked out the door…
And now…12 months, 2 countries, 19 towns, 20 Airbnb lodgings later, I’d like to share my story.
I want to share my story for many reasons.
I want to talk about what can happen when life gets “off course.”
I want to talk about what can happen when you’re the one who’s consciously thrown it there.
I want to explore the concept of a creative life, of ways to reconsider the traditional structures and paths associated with education, work, skills, and knowledge.
I want to share a story of how creating a non-traditional work life can offer the freedom of doing fulfilling work, without limitations.
And I don’t want you to keep telling me that you are “living vicariously” through my experiences…
I want you to go out and live your own.
THE TRAVELING RABBIT 
There might be a great book in your story.
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you’re on to me! 😉
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Rabbit, I don’t know that this lifestyle of yours is practical for most people. You don’t have a spouse whose job you have to consider, no child whose education you have to consider, and you’re not the caretaker of elderly parents/family. Also, you’re extremely lucky to have your health. You have so much more freedom than the average person in their 40s…I hope you can see that and appreciate it for the marvel it is!
I love, love, love reading about your adventures, seeing your marvelous pics, and would definitely read any book you wrote. For many of us though, this lifestyle is only a fantasy, and out of our grasp.
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oh Violet, you are so right on. i don’t mean to dismiss the realities that many people have (and i don’t)…and i thank you for pointing this out to me. i will be much more sensitive to this moving forward. what i would like to propose, though, is that people do their own adventures, in their own ways. from what i have read about your life and your daily activities – you do this…through hiking. you don’t let what most people might identify as obstacles get in your way. you do it and you’re a better, happier person because of it. and this type of determination and creativity is what i hope we can all do a bit more of.
my story is that i was miserable for years because i didn’t have some of the things that you have…namely, i wasn’t married and i didn’t have kids. i had tried for YEARS to make these things happen and i failed. and i was depressed. for years. and over time, i decided not to be depressed and to look at what i DID have. and that was freedom. i could do anything i wanted and go anywhere i wanted. and what was i doing? staying in one place, in one job, being miserable…acting like i was a person who had obligations that required me to stay in this position. but i didn’t. i had freedom. and what was i doing with it? well, given the realization that freedom was just about the only positive about my situation …i decided i had better well use it. and that if i didn’t, i no longer had the right to sit around and mope. and that’s how it started.
so, yes, i definitely see that i had/have “advantages,” because i pretty consciously created them into advantages. but they grew to life out of what were previously major “failures.” i’d like people to think about what they can create out of their own “failures.” it’s all relative, right?
i hope i’m not sounding pollyanna’ish (blech!). that is not me at all, and i would hate to give that impression!
one more thing – i also know and have realized throughout this adventure that i am very privileged to have been able to make this happen – in terms of my upbringing, education, financial stability, etc. i’m not claiming that anybody can just quit their jobs and be able to make it. i am lucky that i was able to. and i guess, all i have is my own story…
love that you follow my blog and are so communicative with me! and how motivating that you would read my book. yes! aack! i’ve gotta get writing!! 🙂
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Basically you’re saying we have to make the best of what we’ve been given…something I fully agree with. 🙂 Best get writing that book, girl…you have a story in you.
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YAY!!! Look us up on our boat, maybe join us for dinner, tea, beverage on the anchorage?
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oh my gosh, i would LOVE that! i’ll email you with more details tomorrow 🙂
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Congratulations! Wish I could be there to hear your talk!
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Ellen & Seth, I would you could be too! Swing by the Bay Area??? 🙂
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Haven’t been on for a while (just dealing with my own heighened anxiety as I try to get stuff squared away before I take the plunge in a couple of weeks) and am only now getting to read some of your posts.
Congratulations on this … wish I could be there to hear your talk.
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