Many people have emailed me asking how I could go from top MBA program to top renewable energy company to happy nomad. This is the third post in a series of short posts explaining the steps I went through in recognizing that I wasn’t living the life I wanted, how I tried to unsuccessfully fix it, and how I ultimately came up with my new plan and took the plunge – in other words, how I went from corporate tool to nomadic idealist.  Click here to see all the posts in this series. Hopefully parts of my story will resonate with you if you are considering your own plung

Me in Prague

I booked a ticket to Prague in October because I had never been there and I kept hearing how amazing the city is. I went January 14-16, 2011. Yes, it was amazing. Beautiful city, inexpensive, the weather was absolutely amazing, and I even met up with the Czech exchange student my aunt and uncle hosted 15 years ago. He will always be my cousin 🙂

But by January 14th, I had been back at work for about 10 days post-Christmas vacation and I knew I needed to plan my exit. I was feeling very stressed out already and Prague was supposed to be my weekend getaway to recharge my batteries. It worked.

I couchsurfed and my host was amazing. I got hardly any sleep, but we talked and talked and talked. She already lives a non-conventional life. She designs webpages to support herself as a student. She does the contract and understands the needs from the client and then outsources the programming. She has lived in Thailand and studied at a Buddhist temple.

I knew I wanted to study at a Buddhist temple now that yoga and Eat, Pray, Love had made me start thinking more about spirituality and “mind over matter.” So this girl, Michaela, was really an inspiration for me. She was also out there “doing it” and living the life she wanted. She was a film student finishing up her time at a university. Upon graduation, she was moving back to Thailand to live life on her terms and pursue her dreams.

On top of meeting Michaela, it was in the upper 40’s Fahrenheit/about 8C and sunny the whole weekend. It was below freezing in Denmark, so it was extremely nice weather. I felt rejuvenated, alive, and engaged the whole weekend. I knew traveling was important to me, but it was in Prague, Czech Republic, the 47th country I’ve visited, that I realized how much of a passion traveling is for me.

When I got back from Prague, I wrote an email to friends and family detailing the adventure and showing pictures as I always do. And it was so enjoyable to write it. I really got into it, and the energy which had long since vanished upon returning to Denmark started to come back as I wrote. A friend of mine replied to the email saying that she really enjoyed reading the it and could feel the enthusiasm and energy that I otherwise lack in my calm and reserved day-to-day life. Another passion identified: writing. I knew this already, but now I could really feel it.

Next up.. putting it all together.

7 replies

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] Thailand I wanted to visit a Buddhist temple my Czech friend recommended to me last year. I also wanted to see two different groups of friends who would be in […]

  2. […] couchsurfed with a local girl. She was also hosting a girl from the Czech Republic who spent many months, maybe it was years, here in India. When I met her, she put her hands […]

  3. […] I came back from Prague, I knew my new adventure had to include traveling and writing in some way. But travel writers are a […]

  4. […] first I had to go to Prague and then I had to figure out what my dream […]

  5. […] example, more than half of my Czech cousin’s clients (he’s a dentist) are German. He lives near the German border, learned German, and can […]

  6. […] When I couchsurfed at Michaela’s place in Prague, she could not stop ranting and raving about a temple she visited in Thailand. As I got closer to […]

  7. […] supposed to depart Chiang Mai for Bang Mun Nak to spend a week off the grid at a Buddhist Temple my Czech friend stayed […]

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.