I quit my job and booked a ticket. Why St Lucia? I think I saw an influencer I follow go there. I looked it up on the map, I realized I'd never been to that part of the world. So I booked it. It sounded like the perfect place to go alone to experience the beauty of nature. To reclaim a piece of my soul that I had let go when I stopped traveling. A piece that deteriorated when COVID-19 grounded us all. So many people lost so many things. I lost many things as well that year. But one was travel, I'd spent the last 10 years planning the next trip. Living off of the highs of the exotic locations and the intense feelings I felt in those places. I had put 'traveler' into my identity. It was part of what made me special. I think we're all searching to mean something, to be important in some way. And I used travel as a way to differentiate myself. To be that special.
St Lucia was an amazing treat I gave myself. A delicious solo trip in between the job I'd found and taken upon my return from my around the world trip. You know that job, that was supposed to be my passion, my dream, this new adventure, a departure from the 'before'. And yet, I was back, in the same job in a new place. Was I missing my shot? The one to truly break away and do something differently? Should I go vagabond around the globe living in the moment without planning for the future? Should I start an entirely new career? Was I losing my chance? These thoughts plagued me as I transitioned from travel to settled. Let's just say it wasn't an easy transition.
Two years later, I was leaving that first job for a new one. It made me feel like me to take off a month and be somewhere on the other side of the world by myself where no one knew where I was. And so, St Lucia.
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