Have you ever wanted to do something completely different but doubted whether you could really achieve it? Maybe if you are really lucky, things might fall into place? Are you a lucky person or do you think you can create your own luck?
Four years ago my husband and I fantasised that we could save up some money, jack in our jobs and see the world. When I think about it now, the fact that we actually did it seems unbelievable and the memories seem like a dream. We started our trip in Bulgaria, and from there we drove into Greece, through Macedonia, flying back to London from Sofia. We had one night to re-pack our bags and see our families, before we started our world tour in Delhi. During the next six months, we travelled around India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, Fiji, and in the USA – California, Nevada and Arizona, before our final stop in London via New York. It was indeed the trip of a lifetime. It was a time during which I learnt a lot about myself – what I want out of life, how I want to live and who I want to be. I learnt about my own resilience, self-efficacy and sense of adventure; how big the world is and how small I am; the different definitions of living and purpose. I felt so fortunate to have the chance to make this dream into a reality.
Wat Pho (Temple of The Reclining Buddha), Bangkok
When I spoke to people at the time, they all said how lucky we were to be able to do this, and I agree, in part, luck did have something to do with it. I do still think though, that the persistence of not giving up on our dreams was the main reason we were able to do it. We both gave up good jobs, left our home, families, friends, chances of promotion and financial stability, to name but a few, behind. It was ultimately a question of choice and priorities: what we deemed to be most important then versus what we could experience and achieve later. And those decisions weren’t easy. Not only did we have to think about what we wanted to do (which in itself felt quite selfish), but we had to consider the knock-on effects of our choices on both of our families and work-places. We had to consider how and whether we could afford it. Should we spend our savings or keep them for something else? Should we go for a longer time and stretch our budget further? How would our not being here affect others? It took lots of talking, planning, thinking and negotiating before we could set a date.
The day we bought the tickets was the day I started to believe it was actually going to happen. A year before, we had been scribbling down the places we most wanted to go in the world on napkins and drawing red dots on an atlas. That part of the planning had been very exciting – we had both previously travelled independently and had to consider whether we wanted to explore new places together – and did those places fit into the route? But now there was no room for doubt – we had paid our money and we were going no matter what! That’s when some of the real planning began – visas, injections, renting out our house, the finer details of our route, timings and so on.
I’m telling you all of this today because I don’t think it was all down to luck. Yes, I am lucky and fortunate in many respects, but in this case, there was a lot of hard work and hard decisions I had to make in order to fulfil this life-long dream. I actually created my own luck!
Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka
- What are some of the things which you would like to achieve or experience in life?
- When you dream of your perfect life, what elements recur for you?
- What would you regret not doing if you looked back on your life from your death-bed?
- Some dreams might be better as just that, but are there some you want to make a reality?
- What can you do to make your dreams more real?
I would love to hear what you think about luck, opportunities and living out your dreams. Have you got a story to share or have a question? Please leave me a comment below or feel free to share this post via Twitter or Facebook so others can read it too.