Tim Ferris wrote, “Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now…”

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you had no commitments? If you could detach yourself from your material possessions and had no routine, predictability, or schedules? If you no longer had to worry about pleasing others but instead pleased yourself? Have you ever wondered what it might feel like to be liberated from societal expectations of who you should be, and instead explore who you want to be? Rather than doing things out of obligation or because you have to, you do things out of interest and because you want to.

If you had the opportunity to let it all go – a window for a fresh start, living a lifestyle that you designed, would you take it?

Since graduating University in 2010, I found myself working in the corporate world doing various business admin roles that never seemed to suit me. I tried out a few different areas including being an Executive Assistant at a major Law Firm, an HR Coordinator at a Gold Mining company and most recently, a Marketing Coordinator at an IT and Print company. Sure, each job served its purpose, which I’ll continue to be grateful for, including a steady pay cheque and job experience. However, there were too many days that I found myself staring at my computer, looking for something to be inspired by, but I never could quite find it. I lost my sense of purpose from being deprived of the things that fuel my heart and excite my mind. I knew something had to change.

For the duration of my 3 and a half year relationship with my boyfriend Jack, we seemed to continuously revisit the same conversation over and again around lifestyle, our values and what we want to experience. Fortunately for me, he too ponders similar questions to mine and shares a common interest in something close to my heart – travelling. Both of us place more value on experiences than possessions. We enjoy learning about different cultures and languages. We have a yearning for adventure and spontaneity. We appreciate natural landscapes and love being outdoors. Finally, we both feel the need to explore who we are, outside of what we already know. So, it became clear what we needed to do. We made the decision to cut down on our spending and save enough money to travel for a while, at least a year.  Once we felt like we had a sufficient amount of money saved, we would resign from our jobs, sell all our stuff and pack up and go.

Well, I’m excited to announce that it’s about that time. I pulled the plug and resigned from my current position at CSG with October 9th being my last day, and we’re in the process of selling all our possessions. On October 12th we head to New Zealand for a couple weeks with Jack’s family, followed by a month in Australia with my parents. Then come December, we’ll be in Bali for Christmas and Sri Lanka for New Year’s. After Sri Lanka, we move on into the South of India, trekking up through the North and over to Nepal to marvel in the Himalayas. Soon it will be just us, our backpacks and the road.

During our travels, my intention is to put more time into my blog. This will not only serve me because I love to do it, but will hopefully serve my readers as well through sharing stories, insight and helpful travel tips from different parts of the world. I welcome you whole heartedly to join the adventure. Just as my Grandma Cleland once said in her “rules” for life, “Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about it.”

Stay tuned for more!