It’s the dream. Maybe not everyone’s dream, but for many people, quitting their jobs to go travel would be so amazing, yet most people don’t do it.

Why?

1.     Fear of the unknown – nobody wants to quite their cosy day job that pays them well and almost guarantees them security for years to come.

2.     Not enough money – kind of goes with the first point, but money can be a big roadblock for a lot of people.

Did I have these concerns when I quit to go travel?

Well, yes and no.

I mean, of course I had those concerns. It’s scary to quit your job and give up that “security” and money is always something to be concerned about.

How I made the decision: Risk vs. Reward

When I thought about all of the rewards and opportunities that could come from this, I basically had no other option.

When I pictured myself sitting at a desk for years to come, under such stress and not feeling that I was really doing myself – or the world, for that matter – any favours, I really couldn’t stomach it. My mind was made up, I had to get outta there!

Listening to my heart

I have always wanted to travel. Like really travel – going off on my own, staying in hostels, going on crazy adventures, but I never actually did it.

For years before I quit my job, I always put my desire to travel on the back burner because I either didn’t have enough money (or enough money that I wanted to spend on travel) or I was too busy with school or work.

I always thought that other things were so important.  But at that point, I don’t even think that I fully knew myself, so how could I know what was important to me.

I started to realize that I needed to find myself before making any other important decisions in my life.  And what better way than to go out traveling, exploring, having new experiences, and meeting new people with different perspectives to broaden my horizons!

My entire body and mind was filled with such an intense desire to just get out there and learn more about myself and the world. And just do some cool shit.

I think that if you really listen to yourself, you will start to realize what you really want. And then you have to go for it.

Dealing with the uncertainty of money

So yeah, I really wanted to travel, but then what was I supposed to do after going traveling? You can’t go traveling endlessly without some sort of income stream.

Well, that isn’t entirely true because there are actually lots of ways that you can travel while making some sort of income. But that’s a topic for another day.

What I did before I left my job was SAVE. I saved a lot of money. Thankfully I didn’t have that many expenses, but I also didn’t spend that much on frivolous things. I decided that freedom and travel were the most important things for me, so any time I was going to spend money – I reminded myself that that money could go towards travel instead!

And even if you don’t have a extremely well paying job, you can still start saving, little by little. You’d be surprised how much you save by just cutting down on some things, like going out partying so much, getting that new shirt, buying junk food, or your morning coffee from an expensive place.

But what about AFTER traveling?

I decided that after traveling for a few months, I would start working for myself. I am just at the very beginning of that right now, but I’m feeling very confident about it because I have a detailed plan.

And there is no guarantee that I will make money, but I’m a hard worker and I trust myself. I also know that if all else fails, I can go get a minimum wage job for a while until I get a “real” job. But that’s not going to happen, because I believe in myself!

Making a plan and believing in myself

Before I decided to quit, I did a lot of research on starting a business and making money as an entrepreneur.

In the end, I was very inspired to start working on things that I loved. But I had to weave through a lot of crap and negativity to get there.

People are always going to tell you not to do things.

You might even tell yourself not to do things.

This all comes from insecurities.

People will tell you that you can’t do something, because they are insecure and don’t believe that they could do it themselves. And in their minds, if they can’t, then neither can you.

You will tell yourself you can’t do something for the exact same reason.

But let me tell you something – you can do ANYTHING you want to! You just have to believe that you can do it and put the work in.

So if you get anything from this article, it should be to..

Trust yourself and don’t listen to the negativity!

Whatever your plan is, whether you want to quit your job to travel, you want to travel but have no money, you want to quit to travel but then get a job when you get back – you can do it!

All you have to do is believe in yourself, and do some research about how you are going to sustain the lifestyle that you want.

Now disclaimer: I am not saying that you should quit your job tomorrow and then just go travel with the hopes that you will come across some money. No. You need to research, and make sure that you will have a solid plan for having some source of income while you’re traveling, or when you get back.

This was not a willy nilly decision for me. It took months of research, budgeting, and planning to feel good about doing this.

BUT, you can’t wait until you feel fully comfortable about your decision because that will never happen. For anything good to happen in life, you need to take some risk and step outside of that enticing comfort zone!

So get comfortable being outside the comfort zone!

This is a bit of an oxymoron, and it’s also a bit cliché, but seriously, you need to get out of that comfort zone.

It’s a dangerous place to be. It’s where people fall into negative patterns and become complacent.

Anyone who has done anything great has stepped outside of their comfort zone.

Even if you do step outside of your comfort zone and totally get knocked down, all that will happen is that you learn from it and get stronger. That’s it.

Remember:

You are strong. Even if you get knocked down, you will get back up.

If you really believe in yourself and take all your hardships and failures as lessons, you shouldn’t be afraid of anything! If there is some sort of struggle after you go traveling and you can’t get a job right away or make money, you will pull through and you will learn from it.

All will be good (as long as you believe that it will be).

So I hope that my story and my tips have inspired you today! If you would like me to elaborate on any of the points I mentioned, please let me know and I gladly will! I would love to hear from you!