Should I Quit My Job to Travel the World?
That was the question I kept asking myself. I was working a comfortable job, I had just began a new career as a nurse, and we were living rent free in a house through a work exchange. We had a lovely community of friends, a stable routine, and were watching our bank accounts grow.
But I couldn’t stop asking myself that question. I kept circling around to it, I ruminated on it. I would get on google maps at work and look at little towns in South America, imagining I was there.
So I asked myself some more questions.
How am I going to cope with uncertainty in my daily life?
What is it I hope to gain by launching myself back into travel?
How will our relationship weather the challenges and joys?
Are we financially in a position where we can really do this?
Do I have faith that if/when we come back we can find work again?
If not now, will you ever actually do it?
As I pondered these questions (and more!) I realized that I was ready to take the leap. That if was feeling like life was just passing me by, and I wasn’t actively steering. It would have been so easy to just keep coasting, to stick with the routine. But it felt terrifying to do so.
So we decided to take the leap, and to uproot ourselves entirely from our comfortable easy lives. We are buying a van in Chile and going to travel through South America. We both quit our jobs, we have savings, and we are going to take an epic trip. Because if we don’t now, when will we? We have so much freedom right now—no mortgage, no kids, no pets. We are healthy and young, and we can still do the things we want to do.
What is the point of waiting until you are retired to travel the world? We were just speaking with a friend in his 70s, he told us that it was a bummer he has enough money to go wherever he wants but his body has deteriorated so much he can’t really enjoy it. I don’t want that. I want to go surfing and hiking and running and kayaking now, while I feel energized and strong.
If you find yourself constantly dreaming about quitting your job to travel, I encourage you to keep exploring that. Dive deep. Ask yourself further questions. Are you unhappy at your job? Are you feeling unfulfilled in your friendships, relationships, lifestyle? Are you itching to learn a new language or fall in love? Fight against societie’s expectations and listen to your own desires.
The poet Mary Oliver said it so beautifully:
Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
I can’t wait to see what we all end up doing with our wild and precious lives!
