2018 was an absolutely MENTAL year for me[1] On New Years Eve of 2017, I boarded a plane out of Boston with my long-term partner, excited for a full year of Digital Nomading. In one year: I lived in 14 countries, across 4 continents. Here’s what I’ve got to show for it.
2. 📍 Valparaíso, Chile
Valparaíso, Chile
To be honest, this city is not one I would have voluntarily chosen to add to my list of nomading cities but the program I was traveling with was adamant that experiencing quiet costal life on Chile would be a uniquely novel and peaceful experience for us. They were half right?
1) 😍My Dopest Experience
2) 💩My Toughest Experience
3) 🔑My biggest take away
a. 😍 Nothing to report. Haha jk; Sandboarding was pretty cool and closest thing I got to experiencing my winter sports for the year. Additionally, I found my voice in Valparaiso. This should come as no surprise to those who know me well, but there is typically a constant internal debate in my head that rages more often than I’d really like: “Am I over analyzing this situation? or….” On top of that, I see this trend amongst other female, westerners, where we have this story in our mind that part of traveling is being uncomfortable, viewing every ‘less than ideal’ situation as an opportunity to toughen up and grow, blah blah blah. Sometimes, we go so far as to CREATE these situations for the sake of the challenge and, don’t get me wrong, I love adaptation and personal growth as much as the next guy. My time in Valparaiso was the first time in my traveling experience where I had a bit of a wake of call and was able to be real with myself in distinguishing the difference between ‘Opportunities for growth’ vs. fucking stupid, unnecessarily dangerous situations. This situation? Our apartment.
b. 💩Valpo was an extremely tough city for me; to the north, beautiful and beachy Viña del mar, a hot vacation spot for many Chilean families and beyond that, Concón, a famous surf spot for beach bums from all over the world… Valpo itself is billed as a quaint and ‘unadulterated’ port city but the reality; it was kind of a rough place. As someone who has lived in every corner of globe, including a year and a half in Rio, I’ve got pretty thick skin when it comes to some shady neighborhoods. My apartment in Valpo took the cake, really. From the extremely welcoming ‘muerte voluntaria’ (voluntary death) graffiti tags that lined the narrow alley access to the entrance, to the fact that apartment itself only locked from the outside (so you had to stick your hand through the letter box and try to guesstimate the locks location from the inside; Super safe 👌🏾) it was pretty hard to feel secure in city where even your ‘safe place’ (home) inspires a base line of fear and concern. After a ‘late night’ dinner (it was 7pm), I was ‘strongly encouraged by the restaurant staff to call a cab or a male friend to escort me home, around the corner (not exaggerating). After sufficient ‘Beast Mode’ hyping, I channeled my 15 year old (Track Star) self and crushed that 55 meter dash, successfully sprinting from the restaurant to my apartment. Situations like this made it hard for me to ever feel ‘at home’ in Valparaiso.
c. 🤔 I mentioned earlier that a key aspect of the dopeness in Valparaiso was the process of finding my voice. This manifested as me nutting up, swallowing my insecurities and, simply put, telling my program that I was NOT okay with my accommodations and that I needed to be moved. Period. None of that ‘Would you mind if…” “I kind of feel like…” “if its not too big of a deal… “ bullshit. I was moved to a beautiful one bedroom apartment that overlooked the water 2 days later.
**Don’t get me wrong; there is a place and time for flexibility, diplomacy, negotiations, etc. There is also a place and time to stand and speak up if you feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or like you’re being taken advantage of. If you don’t? You have no one to blame for your situation but yourself. YOU are the architect of your reality. If there is something in your life that’s making you unhappy, it’s up to you to do something about it. No one else. Even once moved to the new apartment, within one week, I still felt that Valparaiso was a city an energetic vibration that I struggled to mesh with. So what did I do, I peaced out two weeks early and flew to Rio. ✌🏾
🔑Major Key: Pay attention to the difference between your ACTIONS and your INTENTIONS. My philosophy with everything I do: If I’m not learning, growing, or having fun, I’m doing something wrong. Now, being able to discern between growing in sticking something out and realizing when its time to cut your loses…this my friends is one of the most profound manifestations of wisdom.
🍇Food for Thought🍇:
“Instead of focusing on what you’re losing’ focus instead on what you’re gaining” - When it comes to high stress and high impact decisions in life (especially ones that could bring about massive CHANGE in our lives), fear, masquerading as logic may attempt to ‘save us’ from the uncertainty that comes with growth by attempting to remind us that the status quo of our comfort zone isn’t really THAT bad. Think of this concept like moving across a set of monkey bars. We know that, if we want to get to the other side, we have to be willing to let go in one way to move forward in another. Are these split seconds of transition a bit frightening (to your inner 5 year old self?) Maybe at first but we eventually get the hang of it; next thing you know, you’re actually enjoying the PROCESS. Instead of focusing on the comfort you feel on the side of the bars where you’re starting and want to move forward from, think of all that you gain by moving forward and let that become your new decision making compass….Yah. Thats life.
Some Areas Where This Shift in Mindset Might Rock Your World:
Leaving a Shitty Partner
Leaving a Shitty Job
Moving Across the Country
Moving Across the World
Leaving an Awesome Partner or Job to pursue something for YOU 🤷🏾♀️