It seems like just yesterday I was working in New York City trying to hustle my way to the top. In fact, I was doing pretty well when I had a quarter life crisis. Turns out, money doesn’t buy happiness. Oh wait, you’ve heard that before? Don’t worry the clichés don’t stop there. I decided to quit my job in the fashion industry and say goodbye to expensive clothes, hours of doing makeup, crazy diets, and albeit pretty but extremely uncomfortable five inch heels. I traded all of that in for, wait for it, a backpack! That’s right, I decided I’d go “find myself” halfway across the world. See, I told you the clichés got worse.
I spent a year waking up in strange countries where I didn’t speak the language and had to Google how to flush the toilet. And if that wasn’t interesting enough, I decided to call one of those strange countries home. Now, I spend half the year living in the lap of luxury in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I’m talking hot showers, flushing toilets, high speed internet, the works! I spend the other half of the year living in Nepal where the only thing guaranteed is one hell of an adventure.
During my travels, I’ve both slept next to and eaten tarantulas (not at the same time). I’ve taken trains, buses, planes, tuk-tuks, motorbikes, hot air balloons, and just about any other form of transportation you can think of. Sometimes, I get super philosophical and talk about how special every moment and every breath is. Other times, I talk about how I ripped my pants and flashed a pastor on an eight-hour cave trek. Clearly, I’m well balanced.
Things I’m good at include: becoming lifelong friends with someone in less than two days, signing up for things that I’m ill prepared for, sleeping almost anywhere, and eating things that later make me worry I’ll get food poisoning. I also enjoy long walks on the beach (seriously), saying hello in foreign languages, and facing my fears.
If all of that didn’t scare you away, and you’re still reading this, then you should probably just subscribe to my page because obviously, you’re as weird as I am. Either that or you’re my mom because she proofreads everything I write. (Hi mom!) But in all seriousness, I believe that life is meant to be lived to the fullest because each moment only happens once. I feel so fortunate that I get to wake up each morning living out my dream, and I hope I can inspire other people to do the same.