In 2006, two weeks after finishing University I moved to Mexico. In the midst of completing my final year thesis and studying for exams, I accepted a job teaching English in Mexico and booked a one-way flight.
I had spent a year in Spain as part of my degree and from that experience I knew I didn’t want go straight into a graduate programme.
The job in Mexico didn’t work out in the end and after four months I handed in my notice and decided to see some of the country before booking a flight home. Another girl from the school I was working in was finishing up at the same time, so we decided to travel for a few weeks around Mexico. My one month trip around Mexico, turned into four months around Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. I kept meeting really cool people and joined them as they travelled on down through these amazing countries.
Those four months were the best experience of my life and they also led me to travel to other parts I hadn’t really thought about (Australia, Asia, New Zealand, Africa, Europe etc). I had never planned to travel or thought I would go travelling per say. I was going to work in Mexico and travelling hadn’t really entered my brain, I kind of fell into it but it has been the most mind opening, exhilarating, fun, humbling (and at times terrifying) experience of my life.
I’ve met and travelled with people from all backgrounds, all walks of life, all ages, races and people from all different social statuses and the one thing that is so obvious and evident as we all sit around a hostel table or share a meal or a drink; is that we are all the same, we are all human. In these times, it bears no relevance, where you are from, what you do or how much ‘stuff’ you own. We are all there as one, present in our lives and wanting to just experience the beauty of the world and grow and develop as humans and share mutual love and laughter together. It is the most beautiful thing in the world.
So beautiful in fact, that I have decided to quit my job and book flights to South America and get on the road again. Life is too short and certainly there are more fulfilling ways I can spend my time at this moment in my life.
The urge has been there and it’s time to tune into my intuition again and go with my gut. Five months travelling again will not make a huge difference in the ‘timeline’ of my life and what I ‘should’ be doing now (considering I’m 33), but it will completely nourish my life with amazing experiences that can only be had by gathering the courage to follow my dreams.
People may see me as running away from my life (since I’m not married, having children and doing the things society says I should be doing now) but I see it as running towards my life and fully embracing it. I have a big life mission to fulfil and this time will help me to take that leap of faith. I trust my inner guidance and I’m putting the ego mind to the side and letting go of all the fears that pop up as to why I can’t do it (too dangerous, don’t have enough money, too old, need to save for the future, don’t give up job security etc etc).
I think it’s also important to say that travel is not all lazy days and happy moments. It’s not the comfortable, easy option (staying in my current job/life is!). It’s full on and requires a lot of patience and resilience. It’s hard work and can be dangerous if you’re not tuned in or aware of your surroundings. I know during my last stint in Central America, my gut instinct became so astute, I would safely say it saved me from some very hairy moments. Listening to my gut is an asset I have never let fall by the way side since I first became to know it’s true power all those years ago. For me, the highs far out weight the lows and make it all worthwhile.
I hope to document my trip and use it as a learning curve to develop my online technology skills (which aren’t great at the moment!!). I also plan to do some volunteer work along the way and give free empowerment talks with the ultimate goal of giving a talk at a TEDx event somewhere along the way before flying home.
Recently I did an interview with Neil Delamare on Irish Radio Station Today FM about my upcoming trip. Click here to listen back to it (starts from 1 hour 32 mins in).
