“You need to find a way to scratch that itch without completely jumping ship. – J.Forde
Recently a friend told me that I needed to find a way to scratch my travel itch without completely jumping ship. What she meant was that I need to find a more scaled down way to satisfy that need that is more closely aligned to my current lifestyle. This whole conversation began when I told her about an amazing opportunity that included moving to Johannesburg, South Africa. Needless to say I got so excited about this initially and for a moment considered uprooting everything and moving. I mean, why not? I’ve always wanted to live and work internationally. Well, her comment made me pause because most people take one side or the other. Go for it…or…Don’t do it! She was telling me to find a happy medium. Find a way to satiate my love and desire to see the world without abandoning everything that’s important to me and that I love about my life now. I needed to find the AND in this situation instead of the OR. Find a way to travel AND keep the job that I already have and really like…..AND stay close to my family…AND….the list goes on. Living in the context of AND is appropriate for this situation, but not all. The next step is to figure out what degree of travel will satisfy my need to see the world. I don’t know what that is just yet, but I do feel good in my decision to stay put AND create a plan to fulfill more of my desires instead swapping one out for another.