Leaving the corn fields and running for the hills… for now
Within one 20 square-mile radius chunk, I have spent 21 of my 22 years of life. There is nothing wrong with this little Ohio corner, in fact many of my happiest moments and memories call this little bubble, home. After graduating college (also within the chunk), my next move was inspired by the year that I spent outside of this mostly happy yet monochromatic…chunk.
Two smallish towns contain twenty-one years of my life. And if I squish together the separate months I spent abroad in Amsterdam and Madrid and the numerous weekend trips and week-long escapes into one year, it is this year that has inspired me to take a very big risk.
Persisting through my own doubts, other peoples doubts, extra stress, risks, and sacrifices I decided that I will be moving to Madrid, Spain completely alone for the year to do something I have never done: teach English to Spanish primary school kids.
At times I am terrified by this decision, and other times I am thrilled that I am able to chase a dream of mine to spend another year traveling. But I was sooooo close to giving up on that dream for the comfort and security of continuing life right where I was at.
But maybe your chunk isn’t a small town or any place in particular. Maybe you want nothing more than to escape your job, your university, a certain relationship or a mindset that’s holding you back from living your life to the fullest. Life will never be perfect, but you owe it to yourself to take risks in the pursuit of what will truly make you happiest.
My hope for this blog, (though my expectations are pretty low lol), is to show any other person living in a chunk that they can do the same thing. Any regular-everyday-broke-Midwesterner like me can do it.
Picking up and heading for the complete unknown is a scary thought until someone else you can relate to does it. So I am going for what seems like a bit of an unrealistic feat, but also a bit of my dream, and turning it into a blog just for fun and in the best case, inspiration for a future chunk escapee.
BroadsAbroad 