It was my 44th birthday. I was taking a shower and reflecting on the years that went by. When you get to a certain age you start wondering how much more time do you have to fulfill your life long dreams. All my life I either tried to please others or prove myself. I had a nice corporate job with a six figure salary but it was not fulfilling anymore. To most people I was living the American dream. I had a good job, my own condo and I was driving a luxury car.

One of my dreams has always been to travel the world and experience different cultures. It was there in the shower on my birthday when I made the decision to travel the world this year. I did not want to wait anymore. There is no time better than present time. I was sure I did not want to wait until I was older and had so many physical limitations that I would not be able to enjoy my journey fully.

Then came the time to prepare for a year long journey around the glob. It was overwhelming in the beginning. I decided to create a task list and go true it one by one. I sold my condo, transferred the lease on my car, researched online for hours and hours on what is the best way to travel around the world. Then I started choosing the countries I wanted to visit, the legal documents needed to visit each of them such as visa, vaccination documents, etc…

It took me about six months to make all the arrangements to start my journey.  When I was researching on how to prepare for traveling around the world I noticed almost all of the information is provided by men. There were very limited resources from women. Another thing I notices was that all of the travel blogs are only talking about what to do and how to do them. There was no information about the emotional impacts of preparing to travel or during the travel.

This blog is the tool I am going to use to share my emotional, spiritual, and physical journey with you.

Let’s begin with the reaction of my loved ones to my decision when I shared it with them. The initial reaction of almost everyone including my parents was ” Oh wow what a great decision.” Then after just a few short hours came their fears and insecurities. They started judging my decision based on their abilities, their fears and insecurities and their limitations. Although I have to admit at times it really annoyed me to be judged unfairly but I respected everyone’s emotional ups and downs. It was not easy to deal with my own challenges and still be mindful of others emotional issues.

I also have to mention that I had a great support system around me. My friends, my family and even friends of friends were all there for me to make my dream come true. I was able to get everything done on time to start my journey from Armenia by attending the Centennial of Armenian Genocide.

I closed escrow on my condo just a few days before I left. I was able to make arrangements for everything that needed attention during my absence. You might think why would I sell my condo. I made that decision based on the fact that I did not want to have any worries about any possessions when I am gone. I wanted to have a complete ease of mind to enjoy my time fulfilling my dream. I should mention that I chose to travel alone. I know it sounds odd to some, but traveling alone helps me focus on what I want. As women we tend to attend to others needs before we even realize what we want or like. I am guilty of the same behavior. I am hoping traveling alone will open my eyes to what I really want and like to do.

Stay tuned for my next blog!