POV Transition: What it feels like to come back home after a 1.5 year trip around the world.

I've been reflecting on this lately...

How abrupt and slow-happening at the same time.

We left on April, 4, 2022, and didn't come back into our home until Dec 13, 2023. Tenants. Living at parents' homes. Seeing friends for the "first time back"-- just going along with the "living back home."

Now it's February 2024, and I'm finally writing this, after being home for over a month. It feels sweet. It feels comforting. I missed my kitchen mat, I missed my home. I was traveling from country to country, city to city, Airbnb to Airbnb, hotel to hotel, searching for that place, searching for that perfect space. Those perfect conditions. The perfect time, for the perfect life.

I'm learning as I get older that life is not about perfection, it's almost as if the challenge is how you can evolve. To rise to the situation.

For those that don't know the specific details of it: I quit my job in 2022 and left on a Happiness Tour to celebrate a new career I'd be embarking on. The plan was to become a certified professional coach on the road through a 9-month virtual school program called IPEC. This would take place in Bali, Indonesia. That was pretty much the grand scheme of things; visit the world's happiest countries, virtual life coaching school in Bali, and then see what the adventure had ahead. We sold our cars, packed our things in a closet we built underneath our staircase, put the home up for rent, and left with two 75L and 50L backpacks.

Danny, my fiancee, and I landed in Milano on April 5. We rented a campervan and headed to the Dolomites. We spent 1.5 weeks touring around, making our way into Austria visiting the most picturesque towns (and even a cool wellness community called Bad Gastein.)

I wanted to learn about ways that the world's "happiest countries" lived. I wanted to disconnect from my calendar/inbox, heal my burnout, and embrace the slower pace. Ground my go-go-go, and soak in the gift of time.

So, after Austria, we drove the little campervan to Switzerland visited my uncle in Geneva, and made a quick stop to visit other family we had in Zurich and Lugano. We dropped off our campervan and headed off to Belgium. In Belgium, we visited the EU capital, where the super-duper cool Atomium lives, and the fairytale 12/13th-century towns of Bruges and Ghent.

After Belgium we started making our way up to The Netherlands, caught the tulip fields of Krokenhauf in Lisse, and even biked the 40km all the way there from Amsterdam -talk about an adventure- then celebrated King's Day before taking off to Denmark.

Here is where most of the world's "happiest countries" live. Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden. It was a magical time around the coastal towns of Bergen, capitals like Oslo, and Stockholm, fjords, ancient buildings, and iconic architecture. It was a look into different ways that society can work; democratic socialism, collectivism, you get the drift.

Being back home feels like a paradox; like a balloon that was greatly inflated and in an instant popped. Being back home is when one adventure ends and another has to be born.

I'm in that space right now.

What adventure do I want to bring to life?

So many aspirations, so many dreams, not a lot of adrenaline. While I was on the road, I kept thinking: I'll get started on everything when I get home. Now, I'm home and I'm thinking: how could being on the road again help me get started?

The answer lies in the way I see the situation.

My mindset.

Am I longing for previous times, wanting to press play to the memory loop? Or do I want to embrace the challenge of starting fresh?

Reinventing ourselves is one of the most challenging adventures we can embark on. Reinventing ourselves requires determination, willpower, focus, and most importantly: mindset.

How is your mindset holding you back or propelling you forward today? What are you doing about your thinking?

This first blog entry about my life is all about using the example of being challenged after returning home from a 1.5-year trip around the world, and remembering that my mindset either drains me or activates me.

Remember that starting now is better than starting tomorrow, but also remember to love all the different versions of yourself that have walked with you up to this point.

With love,

Juliana