“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” – The Alchemist
I embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime journey in August. I’m not even sure what to call “this”, but it’s exactly what I was looking for and what I needed. I was at a unique point in my life where I didn’t have kids, wife, home, dog, etc. while most people around me were in the process of having that combo. I’ve always had an itch to travel and I finally looked around and said to myself this might be my best shot. Although saying “this is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” creates a notion that you’re going downhill afterwards, I didn’t want to look back at my life later and only wish I had done it. I have large career aspirations and to accomplish my goals I didn’t think this would be possible to do extended travel in the medium-term along with larger life decisions creeping in. I think I’m just getting started in life, but I knew the time was now. I truly feel blessed as I consulted with family and friends (and my work family especially!)) that gave me unwavering support. I’m about one month in on a program called Remote Year where I’m traveling around with ~20-25 other people as we explore the world. It’s been a heck of a ride so far and I know we’re just getting started.
Goals of my Sabbatical
· Cultural Immersion: I’ve always been obsessed with travel. We moved around a lot growing up and even lived in Europe, which perhaps is where I got the travel bug. I think it builds a lot of character and gives you a better understanding of the world. It’s easy to get into a bubble, but it’s difficult to go challenge yourself in a different country. I once heard a comment “well everyone travels Internationally,” and it still amazes me how ignorant that comment is. The number of Americans with a passport is in the low 40% and a lot of that is driven my immigration the past 20 years with a need to go back home (apparently it was ~17% before 9/11 as many could travel to the Caribbean/South America without a passport then). A lot of Americans simply don’t want to get outside their comfort zone and many can’t afford to travel. Honestly the last thing I wanted was to go from place to place every 2-3 days and meet other travelers in hostels, and luckily I found a program that does 1-month stays in apartments to get the full experience. Although I’ll never be a history buff, it’s been fascinating learning how religion/empires 100’s of years ago have driven the culture to this day in these cities. The “ways of life” of different towns/cities/countries continue to amaze me how we can all be humans, but operate so differently. And there is no “right” way of living.
· Develop Relationships: The more I grow up, the more I realize how important it is to surround yourself with high-grade people. I have some great friends/family back home, but I also realized I needed to venture outside my little realm/bubble. I’ve continuously been amazed at the talents with some of the people I’ve met through the program and the locals we meet. I continue to learn from people that are equipped for sales, digital advertising, finance, budgeting, you name it. I hope to bring some finance/investing knowledge to them and I continue to learn tidbits here and there that will make me stronger in my current role in finance/investing. Talking to real customers/users and understanding how their world operates is invaluable. It’s hard to get those experiences working in Microsoft Excel behind a desk.
· Improve myself and focus on what’s important: Although this will be a never-ending goal, I wanted to set myself up for my next stage of my career. I think the above goals help, but working on some things to improve myself. It’s been tough to take a step back and focus, but I’d like to be able to enjoy the moment, learn Spanish, and develop more empathy. One of my goals was simply to refocus and be able to get a more high-level understanding of the world. As always, I’m a work in progress.
Highlights
· Doing things that scare me: I kicked off my sabbatical with what I thought would be a one-time experience of skydiving. It was interesting how it continued to escalate after getting some advice from friends. It eventually turned into jumping off a helicopter from the top of Mt. Eiger that was 15k feet above Interlaken, Switzerland. One of the highlights of my life. I’ll be honest I went a little crazy the day before with how nervous I was and my dive was at 4:00 in the afternoon so had a lot of time to think about it. It was a little entertaining how nervous I was and texting with my family expecting to hear some concerns. Instead I just got a “have a good jump” text from my Mom an hour before I was scheduled to go so that helped calm the nerves. Honestly I thought it was going to an experience I would cross off the bucket list and never do again, but I loved every part of it. I’ll be looking to do it again, hopefully in South Africa!
· More adventure stuff: Outside of skydiving I tried to do a lot of outdoor activities like Canyoning and White Water Rafting. Cayoning is intersting, there's only a few places in the world you can do it Essentially you repel down some rocks into a river canyone and then use the rocks like water slides and diving boards. Great experience. Croatia is a beautiful country with so much to offer. I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors but feel like it gets lost in the shuffle being in Dallas, so it’s a great combination to explore the outdoors while challenging yourself.
· “Volunteering”: I “volunteered” at a dog shelter where we socialized the dogs on a beach and took photos hopefully helping get them adopted. Interestingly, this is Split’s only no-kill dog shelter that was just started recently. They had interns from the States and doing a great service. Our group took in one of the dogs that had been in the shelter for 2 years with severe anxiety issues. We had one of our local team members eventually opt to take care of the dog for a month or two and hoping she adopts! We also volunteered at a disabled school where we painted some of the hallways and classrooms. Got to meet a few of the kids who were awesome. Croatia is still developing and they call the disabled the “unseen” since there aren’t a lot of services for them. Hopefully as Croatia develops they will have more services for people in need.
· The People: Have made a ton of friends in the program along with local people. It’s been great to meet and learn from so many different personalities. It’s been good for me to get out of my bubble and hear different takes on life, work, and values. One of the things this trip has given me is that there isn’t “right” ways to live in this world, everyone has different goals, and people have varying takes on life. It puts things in perspective and perhaps the immediate goals I put on myself I should reevaluate. As simple as my grandfather put it with his favorite sayings were “do as you please” and “whatever makes you happy.” Maybe there’s a lot more truth in focusing on what makes you specifically happy vs. appeasing others. Below is our group of crazies that I've enjoyed getting to know and making friends for life.
Our trip to Dubrovnik (aka King's Landing from Game of Thrones), Montenegro, and Bosnia
Some new friends and some fun
Croatia was a heck of a place and was beautiful. Island hopping is amazing down there and highly recommend it. The city of Split was beautiful with an "old town" that had centuries of history with winding roads with a ton of restaurants and shopes. Outside of that the beaches were beautiful. Croatia is also known for their waterfalls outside the city and breathtaking.
Some pics from solo travel to Interlaken, Switzerland and Lake Como, Italy
Things I’ve Learned
· People make it: I did some solo travel earlier this year and at the beginning of the trip. I can’t emphasize this enough: people make your experiences in this world. I went to some pretty amazing places recently solo and it still felt a bit incomplete without having someone to enjoy it with. I continue to be a bit conflicted- I’ve always struggled being alone so it’s something I wanted to get better at, but I come back to wish there was someone to enjoy it with. One of my life belief’s is that moderation is essential and key. Perhaps it’s simply that, sometimes its good to get out there by yourself and decompress but by no means is that a lifestyle for me at least. It’s something I’ll continue to explore.
· “Pomalo”: Croatians have this saying "Pomalo" that can’t be found in any their dictionaries as its Dalmatian (the region) dialect. But essentially it means to “take it easy” or “slowdown.” It’s used as a greeting as well as a way of life. It represents a take on “island time” where things happen at their own paces and don’t fret about it. The lifestyle actually taught me a lot. Waiting for food, for things to open, for someone to show up somewhere….. Pomalo. I think the American culture and myself could benefit from taking a step back and appreciating the good things in life. I think Croatia was a good starting ground for me as it’s been difficult for me to break away from the constant information that my job requires me. I think it was healthy for me to step back since I suffer from “nervous energy” where I feel like I constantly need to be doing something. In my job/field that can be a detriment thinking you need to act vs. looking at the big picture. Some of my best ideas/stocks I’ve gotten rattled over short-term noise and missed the big picture. Being able to calmly assess a situation when the world is breaking down can be a huge competitive advantage. Applying it to my job, I think of the old adage of “buy when there’s blood on the streets.” Hopefully this has seeped into my brain a bit and can find more opportunities in the future by sorting out the noise.
· History drives culture: Croatia and in fact the Balkans was an area of the world I hadn’t explored and frankly knew little about. I was able to hit many different areas including Split and Dubrovnik Croatia along with Kotor, Montenegro and Mostar, Bosnia/Herzegovina. The beauty is unparalleled and I’m surprised they aren’t more popular, although Croatia continues to get swarmed by tourists. I found the history of the areas interesting with several different empires controlling them over the centuries. The wars in the 1990’s still cause a lot of resentment in the area and it sounds like there are still significant tensions. Several of our tour guides had comments like “my cousin or uncle died in the war.” It was a little crazy to see some bombing sites that had been ancient protected ruins for 100’s of years. And there was still resentment considering that a lot of families were commingled with relatives in both countries. War is ugly and something we should try to avoid at all cost
So there's my first update. Been quite the adventure so far. Pomalo!
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