Quit your Job. Travel the World. Then What?

New Year’s always makes me a little reflective, if not for the obligatory consumption of mass quantities of alcohol, then for the milestone of the date.  I always remember where I was on each New Year’s.  Last year, I was in Boston and I was telling my friends that I wasn’t really loving my job.  I was soft peddling it to be sure.  It wasn’t until 2 months later that my husband and I came up with the plan to completely blow up our lives, forsaking convention and launching ourselves into an adventure of which we couldn’t possible predict the outcome.

This year, I was drinking Cuba Libres in a bar in Guatemala with some other expats.  Someone had the idea to share our goals for 2009.  I don’t do resolutions, but the first thing I thought was. “Wow, I bet my goals for 2009 are more different than at any other time in my life”.

And it’s true.  6 months post-leap, I’ve started making the switch.  At first travel was the goal.  But lately I’ve been thinking more long term.  What exactly comes next?

And before you answer, “Whatever you want!” That’s not true at all.  While I was strapped to my cubicle I could dream of doing Whatever I Want, but until you wake up one morning, hop out of bed, and do it, then it’s not whatever you want, but the Thing You Choose for that day.  I am limited by time and space.  I do have to pick a spot in the world to be in.  I have to decide each day what to do, and suddenly your choices become much smaller.

This is a good thing.

Actually having to pick what you want to do, seems to change everything.  Yes, you’d like to learn french, but do you actually want to fly to France, take a class and get up each morning with a Bonjour!  No?  Then it’s off the list.  Moving on.

It’s been interesting seeing things drop off my “someday” list, because it was more of something I thought would be fun, but just doesn’t rank high enough against everything else.

I thought about this as everyone shared their goals, and there was a clear line formed.  Those returning to their lives in the States in a week or two, had ambitious goals that were all about what they should do (Excerise More!  Read More!  Eat Less!).  The group of us with long term travel plans had lists of soft goals that often were nothing more than stuff we’d like to check out (travel this country, learn this language, check out this thing).

The former was how I managed myself for years, pushing myself to accomplish things that I should be doing, not even allowing myself the goal of doing something because I just like it (I’ll get to that once I finish this chore list!)

This year, my list made me very happy (not full of dread, as in “how the heck am I going to pull this off”).  Some things included: gain a basic fluency in Spanish, travel around Central and South America, check out Thailand and surrounding countries, learn how to surf (yay!), take some salsa classes and write the novel I have bouncing around in my head.

If the list wasn’t called “goals” my former self might have mistaken that for someone’s really kick ass vacation plans.

So as the New Year unfolds and you’re tempting to create your own 2009 list, be gentle with yourself. Don’t give in to creating a new set of harsh rules. Try to think of things that would make you giddy and happy and you couldn’t believe it was possible. On Jan 1, 2008, I had no idea what my life would look like only a year later.

For anyone, it’s all entirely possible.