Don’t go through life on autopilot: Quit your job and go travel solo
If you’re reading this piece, then consider it a sign to quit your day job and travel.
From the second you enter school, you’re taught to follow the path: study hard, go to university, get a job, get promotions, retire. However, this isn’t the 20th century anymore; jobs rarely reward climbing the ladder internally, and the notion of settling down can be something that can imprison you rather than help you find the future that you want.
So, if you’ve been sitting at work, clock-watching, and daydreaming about travelling, then you absolutely should. Don’t listen to the doubters, it isn’t reckless, and travel certainly isn’t an escape from reality but a process that can actually help you confront reality and realise what you really want and value.
The grind of modern work life is relentless, where your free time is eroded with emails and WhatsApp messages still appearing after you’ve clocked off. It feels like success is no longer measured in your output, but in non-stop productivity, in quantity and not quality, and this ceaseless hustle and race to hit KPIs makes it hard to stop, breathe and reflect.
However, once you’ve filled that backpack and boarded the flight, everything begins to change, and while travelling alone can be uncomfortable at times, it’s truly freeing, and without wanting to sound too much like a LinkedIn philosopher, discomfort is important for growth.
Travelling alone isn’t just a test of character but a maker of it, because there’s no safety net, nobody else to follow, and you will be forced to solve problems on the go. Language barriers can make things tricky, yes, but there’s a real reward in being able to find a way to communicate with somebody who doesn’t share your tongue. Everyone is different, but there’s so much that unites us, and people across the planet all want the same things at their core.
The frustration of missing a bus or a flight is slowly overshadowed, as it becomes a time to explore, rather than just being a missed connection. Being hit in the wallet with an unexpected expense is annoying, but it can force you to pivot, to try something different and experience something new, for that cheap hostel or that 18-hour bus might just introduce you to people who can change your thinking. Moments of loneliness build resilience and instil you with confidence, which can help you make friends and build connections, such that random chats in cafes or bars may earn you friends for life, or at the very least give you some ‘it’s a small world’ moments.
When your life exists in a 60-litre Osprey backpack, it forces you to shift priorities. Expensive clothes and material possessions feel transient as you recalibrate to valuing time, health, freedom and human connection over office politics, climbing the ladder and wrapping yourself in status symbols to impress others. Taking the leap and jumping into travelling by yourself exposes you to the world, allowing you to meet people from all walks of life, all areas of the world, and challenging every thought you have about what brings you joy.
Life can sometimes blur into one long monotonous stream of routine and stagnation, but break outside of that, and you can feel curiosity once again, like you did when you were younger. New cuisines, new languages, long and storied histories and changing landscapes will stimulate you, and before you know it, you’ll be asking questions again, observing and really taking things in. Whether it’s watching minarets pass as your minibus drives through the Kosovan countryside, or walking the streets of Saigon, surrounded by colour and a million scooters, there’s something beautiful about being alone somewhere unknown.
Now the internet allows us to always be connected, which has no doubt made having a work-life balance more difficult, but it also lends us an easier escape, where you can still FaceTime your loved ones when you’re away, and you can always find a café to sit and catch up with emails or work, if you want. Likewise, taking a break isn’t the career suicide that it once was, with there being a greater understanding that travel isn’t some selfish option for the work-shy, but a legitimate way to advance your understanding of yourself and improve your mental health.
There’s an understandable fear of jacking it all in and boarding that flight, the fear of being left behind, running out of cash, and being judged, but by quitting your job and travelling, you earn real ownership and agency in life. The reality is that everything will be OK when you come back, and it’ll feel like nothing at home has really changed. Solo travel can’t cure everything, however, and there’ll be times when it’s scary, tiring and lonely, but what you learn and experience will outweigh all of that.
Don’t go through life on autopilot; you only get one go at this, so experience everything, for money will come and go, but time is the one resource you can never refill.
