I Quit Life For A Year To Live My Dreams!
As someone who grew up an orphan, (lost both of my parents by the age of 14,) my life has been one of work and survival. From working two jobs at the age of 16 to working a full time job in college to help keep myself afloat, I have learned to constantly push myself to SURVIVE. I, unfortunately, have been trained by life to be a survivor and "strong black woman." This generally means that I must persevere and never succumb to anything that gets in my way of surviving. I've never been allowed to grieve, be depressed, rest, or truly take time to get to know myself. After more than 30 years on this earth, I finally reached my breaking point and realized that if I didn't do something quick, I would NEVER live a life that I could be proud of. And so... my year-long sabbatical and journey to living my BEST and most AUTHENTIC life begins... Here's how...
The Realization
It was January 18, 2024. I rolled over from yet another toss and turning match to have a stare down with my alarm clock. The time-- 2:37am. I sighed as I once realized I'd not slept more than 3 hours and probably wasn't going to be able to rest... again. For the past 4 or so months, I had been plagued with anxiety about the future, my job which I hated, and the fact that life just hadn't turned out the way I had planned or wanted it to. My heart was racing so fast that I sat up in bed and began inhaling deeply in order to control it. It was at this moment that I had the thought "I can't live like this anymore. Something needs to change NOW or I'm going to miss out on my life." That thought changed my life and seemed to give me the permission I needed to dare to dream about the life I COULD have, the life I wanted, and the life that I finally felt like I needed to fight for.
The Decision
After scouring a few (hundred) TikTok videos about leaving the country or moving to another place, I began to wonder if a life like this was possible for me. I made the decision right then and there that I was going to move to Bali. I was going to find a way to leave the USA and to live a much more simple life that afforded me the possibility to actually LIVE and not survive. I sat up and began mapping out every step of my plan and what I would realistically need to do in order to move to Bali as soon as possible.
The "Delulu"
For the next day and a half, I looked up everything I could find on Bali. But in the midst of doing this, I started seeing other countries that I also thought I would like. Thailand stood out to me since I was leading a travel group there with my company (JozaWorld Tours) I figured it would be wise to live in Thailand since I was already familiar with the country and was doing business there anyway. So, just like that, my plans suddenly changed and I was ready to live in Pattaya, Thailand. The cool part about this change of heart is that it only came BECAUSE I was willing to allow myself to consider what was possible beyond my current circumstance. (aka--- the more "delulu" I allowed myself to be)Once I allowed myself to think that I could leave the country, all of these possibilities that I hadn't thought of before came RUSHING into my mind, leaving me both SO excited (and scared) about the journey ahead. I had to think outside of the box and outside of everything that I was currently seeing in my life and THAT was a hard thing to do, but I willed myself to try!
The Planning
Now that I had a destination in mind, I needed to create an even more detailed plan that would ease my mind enough to actually go through with it. I began watching videos on people who moved to Thailand and how they did it. I also began to come up with a "bare minimum" budget that I would need in order to support myself. I worked on this plan for hours-- looking up flight costs, housing, language programs, visa requirements, and budgeting techniques that would assure that I wouldn't fail. One of the other things I did was begin reading a book called "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss. This book began to help change my thinking and gave me so much practical advice about what I was about to do.
"I'll truly only fail if I never take the first, second, and third steps of faith."
The Action
After my decision was made and my plan was complete, I went into my job the next day and spoke to my good friend KO about my decision. She was someone that I trusted to tell me the truth and to offer me guidance as she was a bit older than me and had more life experience. She encouraged me to go for it and gave me the exact words that I needed to move forward. I thanked her for being honest and sharing in my vision. That night, I went home, wrote my resignation letter and began my journey on a year-long sabbatical / live the BEST YEAR of my life journey.
This wonderful journey is ongoing for the entire year of 2024 and 2025. If you want to see how I ended up swimming on a beautiful Island in Italy or jumping for joy in Dubai, please continue reading.
I post (2) new blogs every week, as well as videos onYouTube and TikTok. I can't wait to share every step of this journey with you! If you have specific questions, shoot me a DM on INSTAGRAM.
Would love to hear from you!
Until our next adventure,
You're LOVED & CAPABLE of living the life of your dreams.
-Joza
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