Her Journeys Throughout Asia and Europe Helped Her Redefine Success

I assumed I used to be on observe — till the yr every thing fell aside.

Just weeks into January 2023, I used to be blindsided by an sudden breakup. In the months that adopted, I moved via my days on autopilot, watching the yr proceed to unravel.

That May, I used to be laid off from my job coordinating massive conferences and company journey. I took a place at a family-run marriage ceremony enterprise that was constructing out its journey division. I instructed myself issues had been beginning to lookup.

But between a 90-minute commute, sitting at a desk all day, and performing mundane duties not listed in my job description, I started to spiral as an alternative of heal.

Almost day-after-day, I’d retreat to my automobile at lunchtime and break down in tears, overwhelmed by how sad I used to be.

The “American dream” started to really feel like a lure

Since I used to be a child, I’d handled success like a guidelines constructed from American expectations I absorbed via faculty, TV, and social media. It appeared easy sufficient: Stay according to friends, get married earlier than turning 30, and purchase an enormous home to boost a household in.

It was changing into clear that this narrative may not align with the life I needed for myself.

Later that very same yr, I handled a poisonous roommate, a severe well being scare in my household, and a automobile accident. Then, simply days earlier than the New Year, I received one ultimate shock: one other layoff. This time, nevertheless, I felt aid.

Walking out of that workplace for the final time allowed me to cease chasing a model of success I knew would by no means fulfill me.

Distance modified the strain I used to be residing beneath

As 2024 started, I set a transparent purpose for myself to sublet my residence, promote my belongings, and board a one-way flight to South Korea by April 15. My plan was to start an eight-month journey throughout Asia and Australia. After 4 months of cautious planning, I boarded that flight.

Starting the journey with a pal in Seoul made the start — and the 15-hour flight over — really feel protected and manageable. When she boarded her flight again to the US, and I headed off to Thailand alone, that distraction disappeared. I used to be formally left alone with my very own ideas.

Early on in Southeast Asia, I questioned what I used to be doing and the place it might all lead. I cried in hostels and had panic assaults on the again of motorbikes. My nervousness was triggered by the blasting music of Bangkok’s Khao San Road and Ho Chi Minh City’s limitless site visitors.

The extra I took word of my environment, the much less the world round me matched the urgency in my head.

As I traveled the Ha Giang Loop in Northern Vietnam by bike, I noticed that my concept of success was constructed upon a degree of strain that did not exist up in these Vietnamese mountains. Local life did not revolve round strict deadlines and productiveness scales. Instead, it centered on routine, household, and staying current every day.

As I moved via every nation, I related with vacationers of all ages and background, a lot of whom had been unemployed, exploring new paths, working on-line, or just figuring issues out as they went. Some had been meticulous planners; others lived daily.

In the jungles of Malaysian Borneo, I met a fellow American who was additionally redefining her life after a heavy breakup. I keep in mind the primary night time we met, we talked for hours about life, expectations, and the worry of what would come subsequent.

We ended up touring collectively to Kuala Lumpur, assembly once more in Penang, and later in Bali. Seeing her in so many various locations jogged my memory what number of others had been navigating the identical uncertainty.

It reframed my view of journey — not as a break from actual life, however as an lively a part of it. For the primary time, uncertainty not felt like failure.

I’ve redefined success

When that journey got here to an finish, I felt no pull towards the life I’d left the yr earlier than.

I returned to the US briefly, however selected to maintain touring to discover what various variations of success might seem like for me.

In 2025, that call took me to 17 European nations. As I explored, I discovered myself falling in love with one of many continent’s most misunderstood areas: the Balkans.

Today, I dwell in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, constructing a profession as a contract journalist with out sacrificing my skill to journey. While the life I’m creating could not match the model of success I used to be raised with, it is extra aligned with how I need to dwell: flexibly, intentionally, and with objective.

While I do not know precisely what comes subsequent, that not scares me the best way it as soon as did.

Do you will have a narrative to share about residing overseas? Contact the editor at [email protected].