Taking the Plunge
A Highly Experimental Journey
A minor confession or perhaps a declaration of my purpose. In case I haven’t explained the journey and the rhyme or reason to why and where I am going….in life and in heart.
I am Canadian, a proud Canadian, let’s be clear about that. I love my country, albeit sometimes frustrated, but we really do have a solid and safe country to call home. I could go so far to say that it is on the top of the list of the greatest nations.
Go ahead and roll your eyes, but we all have a different definition for certain words and what makes a nation great in my mind might be different from yours.
It’s not money or power or the strength of your military that makes a nation (or a person) great! It’s heart and soul and Canada and its people (the majority of its people LOL) are true of heart.
So why leave?
Something Is Missing
So I set out on this journey to find that missing link. I have no idea what it is I am looking for but I haven’t found it where I was…so maybe I will find it where I am going. My family, my friends, my entire life is in Canada and as much as I looooooooove them all and the lifestyle of living on the West Coast, it just wasn’t enough.
BUT Are you Happy?
The Most Important Question to Ask Yourself Daily
Respectfully…my answer would most likely never suit your answer because your idea of happiness could be on a completely different spectrum from mine. So…much like a Vision Board I started to manifest my checklist of what will ultimately make me my happiest. I say my happiest because I wasn’t unhappy, I loved the life I created for myself, but there was room for improvement.
I am also smart enough to know that you can find ‘happiness’ anywhere and life is what you make it…so don’t get on your high horse and say this is a unrealistic quest or that I wasn’t trying hard enough. I shall reiterate, I am nearly always a happy person because that is the life I craft for myself. But still the fact is that no matter what, if you don’t like something…you change it. If you know there is room for improvement then you strive to improve. That is the point. It is time for a resurgence!
So I ask myself!
- City Life or Country Life? That’s a tough one to answer because I have lived the best of both worlds and it is a constant tug of war for me. I grew up small town and would never want to change that because it shaped who I am today…but I live city life and man do I love that too.
- Employed or Self Employed? That’s also tough because there is a peace of mind knowing that you will always have a paycheque being employed by someone else. You can have a sick day and not lose wages or take vacation and not have to work. BUT the freedom of being self-employed creates this sort of autonomy of the mind and emancipation of the soul even though quite honestly it’s MUCH harder work. You only have yourself to blame if you fail so you hold yourself accountable. This is exactly why companies ALWAYS say they want employees with an entrepreneurial mindset.
What I have learned about my must haves:
- I need the ocean: I need the sound, the smell, the openness
- I need laughter: whether it is mine or not, I need to hear it
- I need light: I am the kind of person what never shuts their blinds and wake up with the sun. I love the natural light
- I need sun: I need the warmth from it, my skin soaks it up like a loving hug from friends and family
- I need community: I am far too social of a person to be secluded in the middle of nowhere
- I need warmth: I mean, I don’t want cold…anything above 12-15 degrees will suffice…closer to 30 would be dreamy
So I am in pursuit of it. Perhaps, my list will grow and I will never find ‘it’ or perhaps I will discover that this journey was actually what I was needing. Who knows…I know I am getting closer to finding it though because my spidey senses are screaming “Yes” for all those checks here in Panama. Ocean? Check! Laughter? Check! Light? Check! Sun? Check! Community? Check! Warmth? Check!
I do however have an onward flight and my next 6 months are planned out in my spreadsheet HAHAHA. I plan on holding court in the countries on the top of my list…and after a year of my highly experimental journey we will see what I have found.
My Intent?
Disrupt the status quo and see what happens
When you break up the status quo, leap outside your little bubble and take a chance on yourself you find yourself staring back at your soul. I am so effing happy that I like who I see!