Fresh and Broke

I left my job eight months ago to travel and volunteer. It was a conscious decision, so I was surprised when a friend recently asked if I needed help “getting up on my feet” again. I was never down in the first place.

I've been home for nearly 4 weeks and I've been without a steady paycheck since. But the fact is, I've never looked back. Nor have I felt so incredibly up.

Coming from the US, we are so programmed to equate happiness to a steady paycheck, that we often forget to ask if our underwhelmed souls and over-caffeinated bodies, are in fact, happy.

Granted, I don't live in a fantasyland where I think I can live off my looks (ha) and health insurance will pay for itself. But what this experience has taught me is to revel in the temporary discomfort of life without a steady check. I have this incredible surge of energy to move on to the next chapter, to find the next cool thing, and to make the old and familiar feel fresh again. Because truly, I think it's the discomforts in life that challenge us to think outside the box the most.

So am I happy? Yes.