A year ago I was working in the corporate world, living in New York and dreaming about traveling the world and giving another direction to my life. I had this urge to change my life and living the comfort zone, but I didn’t know where to start. Now, a year later I’m writing from Bali (yes, Bali, Indonesia) while listening to crickets and some techno music.
What did I do to change my life?
I decided to face my fears and leave my comfort zone. The comfort zone is a nice place with a fluffy couch, good tv shows, familiar food, same people and same job security. It’s a nice place for a lot of people. There’s no harm in this if that is your real passion and your idea of what a good life is supposed to be. As for me, it was a slow death. Even if I like the comfort zone I felt trapped in a society where I have to work in a 9-6 job for someone else’s idea and where I was giving my time (a.k.a my freedom) to achieve something for someone else and not something for myself. Although the place I worked was awesome, compared to other places I had worked, I still wasn’t fulfilling what my heart truly desired– MY FREEDOM! The freedom to finally discovered what I love and taking charge of my own life and time.
So, I decided to look at my finances and make a plan. I decided I was moving out of the expensive New York and travel for a while. At first, telling this idea to my friends and family was daunting. People seemed happy for me, but also skeptical. Asking, “But, how you are going to live?”, “Where’re you going to work?” and saying “Wow you have courage, that place is really far”. Honestly, I knew I would encounter these comments, but at that moment I didn’t care. I was so focused with my target goal that I kept moving forward. For example, I cleared all my credit card debt, closed accounts and started to save $ in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I said “no” to dinners ( that was hard), “no” to drinking in fancy bars (bye bye mixology bars a.k.a $16 a drink) and “no” to buying my weekly new outfit. Also, I started wearing the same clothes, getting rid of unnecessary stuff and even not buying that amazing and delicious cappuccino ($4= a massage in Thailand for 1 hour).
What’s it worth it? Hello!!!! Hell yeahhh.
So far, in 2 months I have visited 6 countries: England, Amsterdam, Germany, India, Thailand and now, Indonesia. All the sacrifice was worth it! It was a challenging time for a while, but those months of preparation and perseverance taught me that I don’t need material things, 9-6 work, and mix of opinions to be happy and what I needed was to follow my gut and my dreams.
So, now I can say for the first time since I’m a little girl— I’M FREE!!!! Would you like to be free too?
Are you in a comfort zone? The things that most scares us are the things we need to do in order to be happier with ourselves, even if you fail. Whatever is your passion, DO IT. Mine is traveling and knowing other things beside the comfort zone..what’s yours? It’s never too late to build the life of your dreams.
I will keep writing on this subject further more and sharing my experiences while traveling.
Have a great day!
xoxo,
Cristina
