I go through this. I get into waves and fits of blogging and non-blogging. It gets to a point where I almost “forget” how to blog.

I miss the daily reading of other sites and commenting when I have something good to say.

I miss the networking and getting 30+ comments.

I miss the tons of ideas filling my brain and spilling out onto the pixel page. The blogging every night. The inspiration.

I miss having an interesting story that is my life.

Or, maybe my life is interesting, but I just haven’t thought of a way to capture that? Because after awhile, life seems ordinary, no matter how “interesting” it is.

I need to find a way to capture my experiences in ways that are relevant to other people. As this year draws to an end, I’m left with a reflective.

2010: Taking the Plunge

You know how it is. Crazy kids quitting their nine to fives, taking the plunge, the “leap of faith”, and traveling to different countries becoming kick ass “soloproneurs” in the process. It’s hardly new anymore. But its just as exhilarating when its YOUR turn to take the plunge. I still remember how it felt. That rush of adrenaline. Stepping on that plane. Forging a new life. The happiness and excitement. The dose of hope and faith. That stubborn knowing that whatever un-plans I have, it WILL work out. Someway, somehow.

I traveled India for three weeks. I saw slum kids and taught them English. I saw the aliveness in their eyes. The child-like wonder and happy smiles all around, despite their poor conditions, they were so full of life. I’ll never forget that. I’ll never forget looking in their eyes and feeling my goddamn heart strings pull and think that someday, I’d like to raise a child, no matter how awkward I am around kids, and no matter how weird this realization felt. Because I was 26, my biological clock is ticking, and fuck is this really me or is it my biological clock, because this is so unlike me!! It freaked me out. But there it was. And there I was, in the midst of all these kids, wondering who the hell was this humanitarian chick.

Eat, Pray, Love

I look like a turtle

Next, I took that one way ticket to the Philippines with no plans, but a general idea that I wanted to be a “location independent entrepreneur” one of these days. Having no plans sets you up for a crazy year of new experiences, because you become open to the opportunities.

First, four months in a Zen Buddhist monastery where I shaved my head and learned how to meditate. Then, a short three week vegetarian foodie trip to Taiwan, temple hopping and attending an International Youth Buddhist Conference, being around ivy leaguers from all across the world trying to wax philosophical about Buddhism, while everything seemed like a review from what I had learned from my retreat.

It was like Eat, Pray, Love… Only I hadn’t gotten to the love part yet.

The next opportunity lead me on a 660 km trek along Palawan, a tropical island in the Philippines known for being a popular tourist destination. Lead by a Filipino martial artist, the two of us walked together, practicing our spiritual walkabout like the “road to zen” and “walking the way”. Meeting locals, learning the language, and taking interludes in mountains and private beaches… The ‘Love’ chapter had just begun. Everything about the journey of life was represented from the walk. The up and down struggles walking uphill and gravel roads in thin flip-flops that tested my determination, especially.

Deeper into my spiritual sabbatical, I spent two months at a raw foods detox retreat, living a simplistic life pumping wells for bath water, among other things.

2011: Vipassana and the Hustle

The sabbatical was topped off with another meditation retreat. A 10 day silent Vipassana meditation that was possibly one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. Lots of emotional detox. Your body actually responds by physically getting sick, while mentally, you feel like you’re going crazy.

This ‘inner work’ was the ground work from which the hustle was about to begin. Despite traveling with very little money, and less than $1,000 to my name, I made the year+ work without any income to sustain me. But money was running dry and I knew that the hustle had to begin. That “become a location independent entrepreneur” goal had to start sooner or later, and I started in the most ill prepared way.

Back to Zero

I rented the cheapest studio that I could find… which happened to be in the slums of Manila. The degradation I felt going from first world amenities to complete third world experience was a deep culture shock, but the preliminary nomadic walk was a good enough buffer. On some nights, we’d sleep in abandoned shacks, or even under the jungle canopy with just a blanket covering the dirt.

My year in sabbatical was necessary for the foundation that I needed to start a heart-based solopreneur business. All those days of meditation were preparation for the hustle. The patience and flow I had to learn. The calm and emotional control when things were tough and uncomfortable.

The first six months were tough. I learned everything backwards, without going in any sort of “right” order. I didn’t know how to network or market myself and business was bad. Did I even have enough there to call it a business? I mean, it was pathetic. And my parents helped out. A lot. And I felt like a loser. A lot.

But I kept on going.

Feast or Famine

I kept on going until I could barely afford my $50 rent. For two months straight, I couldn’t pay rent on time. And it sucked. And I realized something had to change.

In a weird series of “client meetings” turned full time position offer and an all expense paid trip back to the U.S. in tropical Florida for a business trip, I prematurely took the bait for a chance to travel and finally secure my rent again.

Premature, in the fact that at $2/hr. and 10 hour days, I quickly found that my freelance gigs were doing a whole lot better than this full time gig after all. The Famine was over and the Feast had just begun. I wanted my hours back on my terms. I quit within a month. Just enough time to get a free travel trip out of the way and a chance to see my best friend again, who happened to live exactly where they were taking me.

Which brings us back to

Now

Now in my “ordinary” existence.

Now, in this crazy, upside down life, still in the slums but looking for a more “Western” apartment, finally.

Now, forging forwards, and still going strong!

I guess my life isn’t so ordinary after all, but I need to blog more about it, and tell the story that I want to tell.

Because in the end, it’s only YOU who makes the shots in life.

And you can dream big and keep on going, too.

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.