When I packed up all of my belongings and left my job and New York City apartment eleven months ago, I never would have guessed I would make it to Lisbon, Portugal, this year, but here I am. And the reason I flew to Lisbon was to attend a conference for Digital Nomads, called DNX. It was amazing to be there and see my transformation in front of my very own eyes.
What the heck is a digital nomad? It basically is someone who lives an independent location lifestyle and supports themselves financially while traveling the globe! One of the biggest questions that I have received over the past eleven months is how am I supporting myself financially to travel to all of these places. And that is a very good question. My current answer is that I have saved up enough money to support myself “for now”. But there will be a point soon where I won’t be able support myself through savings and I will need to find another means to support myself.
A friend of mine recently sent me a New York Times article that talks about this new term FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). I sort of fit into this concept, except I am not looking to just rrrr…rrrr….that word that is spelled R-E-T-I-R-E… keep reading to know why I said that.
ON THE CUSP OF SOMETHING GREAT
But I feel like I am on the cusp of something really great! I have some exciting things in the works, including publishing my first book later this year! More about “what’s next?” later. But before I was able to begin thinking about “what’s next?”, I had to take time to heal. Heal from my then current situation. Ending a relationship. Feeling stuck in the corporate world. Not loving where I was living. Not knowing what I wanted to do with my life.
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TIME TO HEAL
I think anyone making a huge life pivot like I have done needs time to just heal. And one of the best ways to heal is to travel the globe. To just get out in the world and see what you want to see. Heal themselves through travel. Its an important first step to just deal with whatever it is that you are dealing with. And that is exactly what I have done over the past eleven months. I took the time I needed to get comfortable with my new reality.
LESSONS FROM TRAVEL
I have learned so much over the past eleven months. I have learned that I no longer want to go back to the traditional 9am-5pm work life. That I no longer want to work in a stuffy, corporate environment. I no longer want to hear corporate buzz words and phrases like “on the same page”, “one-off”, “deep dive/drill down/10,000 foot view”, “let’s circle back, “at the end of the day”, “let’s take that offline”, “we are working in silos”, “move the needle”, “it’s a no-brainer” (all of which I used to use – and I am sure many of you do also). Or I even no longer want to use words like “retirement”, “career”, “work-life balance” or even the word “work”. Gross!
I want to be able to be anywhere in the world at anytime. I want to be able to create on my time, my hours. But most importantly, I want to do something that I am truly passionate about. Something I feel in my core is right and that I have no doubts about what I am doing. Of course this is what “they” tell you: do something that you love to do and will never feel like work. That phrase is so easy to say and quickly dismiss.
I continuously said that phrase to myself throughout my life. And at many times I did think what I was doing was something that I loved to do. But what was really occurring deep inside was that I loved the idea that what I was doing at that point in time would someday lead me to something that I truly loved to do: travel and see the world because I would be “retired” with enough money to be able to support myself. So I was living in the future and not in the present.
(NOT) KNOWING WHAT I WANT TO DO
I knew deep down I didn’t love what I was doing every day. Sure, I loved some of the people I worked with. And I loved the paycheck. I loved the lifestyle that I could live. I felt successful just because I was living in New York City. And I loved the benefits. But this was all just loving security. It was what the corporate world wanted me to feel. And this was the biggest barrier to letting go for years. Before just leaving the corporate world (my reality at the time), I wanted something to fall into.
I wanted to know with certainly what I would be doing next if I truly let go and left the golden handcuffs of the corporate world. That “knowing” was what prevented me from pulling the trigger to leave and go figure out my passions. It even prevented me from figuring out my passions while I was still employed. I didn’t have time to figure it out because I was exhausted during my free time to think about anything new.
NO INCOME BUT FEEL RICH
But there are triggers in your life. Pivot moments that facilitate change. I had a combination of situations occur in August and September to push me into “brave”. For me to finally make the decision to throw myself over the cliff without a parachute – without knowing how to land. And I did just that last September when I asked for a sabbatical which began last November. That sabbatical has not ended. And to be completely honest, I still am not making any income after eleven months. This was something that I feared. But that is ok with me.
The beauty of this is that I feel rich. It doesn’t bother me that I have been spending and not earning. I know deep down that this experience has been invaluable to my life as a whole. It is an investment into my lifelong happiness. And I know that just by figuring out what I have figured out over the past eleven months will allow me to earn more than I ever could have dreamed of.
DISCOVERING MY PASSION
I have learned along the way that my true passion in life is to inspire others. I’ve known this deep down for quite some time. But it hasn’t been perfectly apparent until I have begun to travel and meet people from around the world. Over the past eleven months, people from all walks of life have told me that I have inspired them in many ways. Just by doing what I am doing, I have ability to inspire.
And that is really exciting for me. I know in my previous job, one of most rewarding things for me was leading the global LGBT+ employee resource group at PepsiCo and creating a program that encouraged LGBT+ employees around the world to become their true unique selves in the workplace, just as they could outside of the workplace. And I could literally see the impact of that transformation before my own eyes. Employees impacted became much more confident with who they were at work which led to a significant increase in their well being and productivity. Seeing just one person break through made all of the hard work worth it! I had inspired others and that was rewarding for me.
TRANSFORMING INTO A NEW REALITY
Moving forward, I want to help others that are struggling with their current reality and help facilitate a transformation into a new reality. I want to facilitate positive change for others. And since I know travel was a unique opportunity for me to transform, I know it can also be a platform to inspire others.
So I am in the process of creating something very special to facilitate a life change in those that are ready for it. I am really excited about figuring out this new opportunity and once I am further along, I will be sure to provide updates to everyone. And I would love to hear from you if you feel you may be a candidate for this unique opportunity. Send me an email (cory@thereiscory.com) and let me know how you are looking for a pivot moment in your life! Let’s chat as I am targeting the first experience in 6-7 months from now.
SUBSCRIBE AND FOLLOW FOR “WHAT’S NEXT”
The digital nomad conference turned out to be a pivotal moment for my “whats next?” opportunity. I’m really glad that I attended and look forward to paving my new path ahead! I wanted to share this with you as I forge ahead and find others who are ready for the inspiration!
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Hi Cory, Love the blog. You really took the road less traveled.