Twenty-One New Locations.
It was just over two years ago that I sat in my home office in Boston, writing out a list of places I wanted to visit around the world.
When I made the list, I had just joined a company with a very cool and creative product. But I had dragged my feet in accepting the role because my gut instinct was telling me that despite the job seeming like a great fit, I wouldn't be happy there. After only a few weeks, I was drawing on my office blackboard wall at home, dreaming of where I already wanted to go on vacation.
I knew I was going to quit very shortly, just a few weeks into the role. The only thing that was holding me back was a fear of boredom.
"If I quit and go back to consulting, I'll be bored," I said.
"Well," a friend asked, "if you didn't have a job and didn't have to worry about money, what would you do with your time?"
That was the problem. I didn't have to have a job for money at the time. I was only working to keep myself busy and challenged. But I also wanted to be productive, which was not going to be a possibility in the new role given how things were set up.
So I started drafting out the destinations I wanted to see.
"If I didn't have to worry about money, or rent," I said, "I'd travel. And these are the places I'd want to see..."
Four months later, I was on a plane to Iceland. And the travel adventure began.
But I didn't get to everywhere I wanted to go. While I try very hard not to carry around regret (I don't carry regret - which bothers some people, actually), I do wish I'd not been so afraid to just bite the bullet and hit every location I dreamed of at that time.
But then, I'd have no calling for another adventure...
No. I'm not quitting my job and heading out to see the world again. But I am revisiting that list, and thinking about where I want to go next...
Twenty-one locations. None of them repeats. All new. Though there are a few cities I would love to go back to from the original list. (Barcelona. Istanbul. Bordeaux.)
Time to start saving. Though, hitting all of these would require far more vacation time than I've been given in my new job. So this is a bucket list for the future. And not all at once, most likely.
Though... I think I said that before too. (But this time, I actually really like my job.)
When I made the list, I had just joined a company with a very cool and creative product. But I had dragged my feet in accepting the role because my gut instinct was telling me that despite the job seeming like a great fit, I wouldn't be happy there. After only a few weeks, I was drawing on my office blackboard wall at home, dreaming of where I already wanted to go on vacation.
I knew I was going to quit very shortly, just a few weeks into the role. The only thing that was holding me back was a fear of boredom.
"If I quit and go back to consulting, I'll be bored," I said.
"Well," a friend asked, "if you didn't have a job and didn't have to worry about money, what would you do with your time?"
That was the problem. I didn't have to have a job for money at the time. I was only working to keep myself busy and challenged. But I also wanted to be productive, which was not going to be a possibility in the new role given how things were set up.
So I started drafting out the destinations I wanted to see.
"If I didn't have to worry about money, or rent," I said, "I'd travel. And these are the places I'd want to see..."
Four months later, I was on a plane to Iceland. And the travel adventure began.
But I didn't get to everywhere I wanted to go. While I try very hard not to carry around regret (I don't carry regret - which bothers some people, actually), I do wish I'd not been so afraid to just bite the bullet and hit every location I dreamed of at that time.
But then, I'd have no calling for another adventure...
No. I'm not quitting my job and heading out to see the world again. But I am revisiting that list, and thinking about where I want to go next...
Twenty-one locations. None of them repeats. All new. Though there are a few cities I would love to go back to from the original list. (Barcelona. Istanbul. Bordeaux.)
Time to start saving. Though, hitting all of these would require far more vacation time than I've been given in my new job. So this is a bucket list for the future. And not all at once, most likely.
Though... I think I said that before too. (But this time, I actually really like my job.)
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