TLDR Summary:
Balancing the pressure of a stable job with the desire to travel is challenging. Consider options like freelancing, remote work, seasonal jobs, and budget travel. Embrace awe in everyday moments, whether through travel or simple everyday experiences, to enrich your life wherever you are in the world. Ultimately, follow what makes you happy, whether it’s a traditional career or a life of travel based adventure.
Introduction:
The pull between wanting stability and security while also having an insatiable desire for adventure and change has always left me feeling stuck. Growing up, I generally embraced stability and security because I genuinely wasn’t aware there was another option. In high school, I studied my sanity away while being a two-season varsity athlete. I spent my weekends at sports events, doing homework, or in my remaining time, volunteering at local charities and organizations. In the circles I was part of I wasn’t an overachieving outlier, if anything I was falling behind my peers who had hard-earned prestigious internships, numerous awards, and scholarships. I ended up applying to 11 different colleges in my final year of high school. After finally selecting one to go to, I graduated four years later with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Communications & Culture with a concentration in Peace & Justice Studies (what a fucking mouthful!) Just as the title of my degree sounds, I jammed as much as I possibly could into my college experience and continued to push myself as hard as I possibly could. I studied abroad, did a double major and minor, and was super involved in clubs outside of my studies. I am so lucky I had the option to get a university degree and further my education, however, I wish I knew not going to college immediately or at all doesn’t make you a failure. Tertiary education is such a privilege, but it’s not for everyone and it also doesn’t have to happen immediately. How many 18-year-old kids really know what they want to do for the rest of their life?
This past year I’ve been living in Europe and meeting a lot of new people who have exposed me to a lot of different perspectives and experiences. I was recently chatting with a Swede I met in a hostel in Germany. He was telling me that in his circles it was actually more odd to encounter someone who went straight to university after graduating secondary school. This was shocking for me to hear because in my graduating class of 50 students, 49 went directly to college and one took a gap year with an early acceptance to the next year’s freshman class. I remember thinking how radical it was for the one girl to decide to take a (gasp) gap year. To be honest, my perception of a gap year was something you did when you weren’t yet ready for college. Maybe you needed to mature a little more or study a little more and your gap year to be ready for college the following year. This isn’t necessarily inaccurate, however not being ready and eager to go to college the moment you graduate high school isn’t the negative thing I once thought it was. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn more about yourself, your interests, and the world before being thrown into an intense four+ year commitment.
The Pressure to Have a Stable Job:
With all of my studies, the end goal was to eventually land a stable job where I could make enough money to live a comfortable life. What a fuckton of effort to be housed and fed goddamn! If I had to guess, I’d expect many of my peers after high school and college felt pressured to take the next educational step or immediately enter the corporate world due to the sunk cost fallacy. In simple terms, this just means that since you’ve already invested so much time, energy, or money into a goal you feel like you need to continue pursuing that path even if it is clearly not serving you. Especially in America where higher education is ridiculously expensive, how crazy would it feel to never use a degree you invested so much into? Let’s also consider the impending doom many young people feel as they watch inflation surge and housing costs skyrocket all while wages stay the same. How insane would it be to decide against a traditional career route when so much is at stake and uncertain? All of this is not to mention parental influence and pressure. Many parents feel a drive to give their children a life better than what they had and their children’s education is the means they use to make this happen. It’s awesome if you have caring parents who want the best for you, but sometimes this attitude can do more harm than good when it comes to exploring different life paths and feeling like you have options when it comes to creating a life for yourself.
The Call of the Open Road:
Despite the challenges, many people feel called to travel and put off building a traditional career for the sake of adventure. Personally, I felt overwhelmed by an untapped sense of wanderlust. Something unidentifiable within me had an innate sense that I needed to explore more of the world.
Fascinatingly, this elusive feeling I had is actually backed up by science. According to Medium, “Our brains are wired to reward us for exploring new frontiers. The neural pathways responsible for pleasure and reward light up when we embark on novel experiences. The neurotransmitter dopamine, often associated with pleasure and motivation, surges when we set out on an adventure. This neurological response creates a feedback loop, encouraging us to seek out new experiences and savor the feelings of discovery.”
This of course, doesn’t mean everyone will feel the need to embrace change and travel the world. Some people are much more content sticking with their routines and what they know. However, if you too are stricken by the plague of wanderlust, now you have psychology to back it up!
Finding a Middle Ground:
The key to resolving this tension lies in finding a balance that works for you. Here are some strategies to consider:
- Freelancing and Remote Work: With the rise of digital nomadism, many people are finding ways to work while they travel. Freelancing or securing a remote job can provide the financial stability needed while allowing for the flexibility to explore new places.
- Unfortunately, an online job that allows you to travel can be somewhat of a unicorn. From my own experience and what I’ve learned from friends, one popular way to support yourself while traveling is to teach English online. For some platforms, you need a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or equivalent certification. Other platforms just require you to be a native speaker; however, opportunities do exist for those whose first language isn’t English.
- Another suggestion for how to obtain that precarious online job is to ask around and utilize any connections you can scrounge up. The actual statistics are debated although many experts suggest that at least the majority of jobs are never posted publicly and thus most jobs are filled through personal connections. If you ask me this is fundamentally unjust and a perpetuation of systemic class inequality, however, often we must concede and work within the system we live in. Make it clear that you are looking for a job and ask around with family, high school teachers, college professors, academic advisors, and in casual social situations; you never know who might have a connection or is looking to hire. Working through connections can make it easier to convince your employer to offer remote work options rather than your typical Indeed listing which might not be as flexible.
- Sabbaticals and Extended Leaves: Some companies offer sabbatical programs or extended leave options. Saving up for a year or two and then taking time off to travel can give you the best of both worlds. Having a financial safety net to fall back on can release so much of the pressure that can come from having to generate income in perhaps uncertain situations while traveling. With this method, you can then dedicate all of your time to exploring rather than having to balance a job on the side. There’s also the secret 3rd option of saving up some money and then just quitting your job when you have enough money saved up. I won’t tell you what to do! Alternatively, you can take this route but also employ a side hustle on the side for some extra security or spending money.
- Part-Time Work and Seasonal Jobs: Working part-time or taking on seasonal jobs can provide a steady income while leaving ample time for travel and exploration. Often times seasonal jobs provide housing and even food so the take-home pay at the end of the season can be significant. I’m a big fan of seasonal work and it is a big part of my travel experience. If you’re looking for domestic travel within the United States I highly recommend coolworks.com for finding seasonal work. I traveled to California for the first time with a job I found on CoolWorks. I worked at an outdoor adventure summer camp for two seasons and had such an incredible time that genuinely changed my life.
- Budget Traveling: If financial constraints are a major concern, consider budget traveling. There are numerous ways to explore the world without breaking the bank, such as backpacking, staying in hostels, or participating in work exchange programs. I always like to travel as cheaply as possible so I can do as much travel as possible!
- Traveling light and not having to pay for checked bags is a huge way to save money when flying. It’s also a lot more comfortable than having to haul large ass bags through foreign streets.
- Hostels– I cannot recommend them enough! They’re a great way to meet people while traveling while saving heaps of money on accommodation. Many hostels also offer free breakfast which is a great way to cut down on pricy eating expenses.
- Work exchanges are great also if you don’t want to spend money on accommodation. Of course, you’ll have to work a small amount of hours a week to pay off your living expenses, but if you’re looking for a budget long-term travel solution this is a great option. It is also a great way to make friends and be part of a community while traveling. I’m currently writing this as I am doing a one-month work exchange in a hostel in Germany. I do housekeeping work for around twenty hours a week in exchange for accommodations and breakfast every day. It is a fair amount of work just to pay off my living expenses, however, it’s a great solution when you’re looking to keep your living expenses as low as possible.
Embracing Awe Along the Way:
I find it’s easy to get hung up on deciding what you want to do with your life while you’re living a completely full life already. It’s important to be mindful of the daily joys we experience traveling or not so life doesn’t pass us by.
I’ve been trying to make this a more active pursuit in my life lately. A few months ago I read a book called “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.” The author of the book describes awe as “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.” My main takeaway from this book is that there is awe and vastness to be found in everyday experiences. Each day I try to be aware of my surroundings so that at the end of each day I can choose an “awe moment.” One awe moment I have experienced lately is the experience of looking out over the cliffs and vast extending ocean in southern Spain. I’ve also found awe in smaller moments such as appreciating the way the sunlight hits the leaves of a tree. And I’ve even found awe in even smaller moments such as looking at and appreciating the human eyes of a loved one. There is vastness in even the smallest parts of the human experience, we just have to make the choice to seek this awareness.
I invite you to bring this awe-seeking practice into your life as well. It’s really helped with my ability to live in the present and appreciate what every day has to offer wherever I am in the world.
At the end of the day, it’s such a personal choice if you want to embrace the comforts of a place you make your home or continue traveling and exploring the world. It is difficult but it’s not impossible to find balance between the two. My wish for you, my lovely reader, (as cheesy as it sounds) is to follow your heart and find what makes you the most happy and fulfilled. For some, this means a traditional career path; for others, it’s a life of travel and adventure. Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to live your life. You will figure it all out and you can make it work. I believe in you!
