The Dilemma Of Leaving Everything Behind And Travel

A few days ago, I received a 700-word email from one of my readers, mentioning how he has been holding on to a marketing job for the past 10 years. But now he wants to leave his career and start travelling.

He wrote to me in search of some kind of assurance. But more than assurance, I felt, he needed inspiration. Inspiration to let go, break free and find his freedom again.

As an assurance, I told him how even if he quit his corporate career almost recklessly, and if tomorrow he couldn’t find a way to make money and live out of travelling, he won’t return to the same old corporate life empty-handed.

To Travel Is To Find New Opportunities

Travelling is an educational experience. And people who haven’t travelled in their life (please note that by travelling I don’t mean taking recreational holidays with friends, but something more profound and educating in nature) have absolutely no idea what they are missing out on. They have no frame of reference for what it is like.

The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go” Dr Seuss

After travelling solo for a long time, one thing I’ve realized is that the places you see, the people you connect with, the pace of life and the many experiences you gain while travelling help you discover yourself from far within.

Travelling can teach you important life lessons and can greatly improve your non-travel life. You become less afraid, less stressed out, less hung up, more open to possibilities, better at meeting people, more interested in cultural differences, socially more graceful… and so on and so forth!

You May Not Find What You’re Looking For, But You Might Just Find Yourself

Many people who leave their corporate job to travel, do so seeking clarity. They feel as if they were missing a purpose in life, given they were not happy despite their well-paying job and happening social life.

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore” Andre Gide

When I quit my corporate career and booked a one-way ticket to Bhutan, I was in no different situation either. I was discontent, unhappy and all wired-up in life. Though I am not stating that I didn’t like my life or my profession (of writing), I just wasn’t happy with the way how things were going. It seemed I was just accepting things as they came because everyone around me told me “this is life and you got to learn to deal with it.”

So I finally quit that career behind and left. Though I had no clue what this new life (of being a digital influencer) will bring to me, I knew that after being on the road for some time, and having no one to watch my back, I will at least find out my weaknesses and where I need improvement.

Don’t Take Everyone’s Suggestion On Travelling

One of the greatest miseries of the human condition is that we always need assurance. When I was struggling with the idea of quitting my job and travelling I asked a few considerable intellectuals about my decision, and they only discouraged me.

Making a leap like this is outside the realm of some people’s reality. They can’t understand you. So don’t even bother asking. Focus your energy on yourself. Realize what you want. If you want to break free and find out what is best for you, then there’s no harm in taking some time off.

There’s an old saying in Dutch which says “He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him”. Life on the road is a lot easier. It’s only the decision, and all those small preparations you do in the process, that is the hardest part. So stop worrying about the potholes in the road, and go enjoy the journey!

If you still can’t find enough motivation, read some of these popular travel quotes for more travel inspiration.

Update March 2018: Since I’ve written this article, in 2016, I’ve grown substantially in life (both personally and practically). Travel Blogging has picked fairly well too. I now even own a hospitality business – my own campsite in Manali (the Himalayas). My work has been featured in many publications, including the two leading newspapers in India TheEconomicTimes & TheStatesman as the upcoming travel blogger to follow – all because I believed in myself, and in what I was doing. Sure, when I started, I was repeatedly questioned by family and friends about where my life was heading and why I am wasting it being a directionless nomad, but I kept moving forward!

So if there’s one thing I’d advise other people a change in their life, it will be taking a break from what they’re doing and TRAVEL. Don’t let others hold you back. Because if you (or your family is) worried about doing a job and following the corporate life-cycle, just remember that it can be done any day. You can go always back and become THAT NORMAL YOU again.

So just give yourself a chance and travel for some time in life!