Meet Irene. She's a scientist, but hasn't been feeling very fulfilled by her work lately. She's always dreamt of taking some time off work to go to Pakistan and teach young girls about math and feels like now might be a good time to do it. She thinks the mountain air and doing work to help others might be just when she needs to feel alive again. Although she's always wanted to do this, she's always made excuses as to why it wasn't a good time. A few years ago, the opportunity even presented itself for her to go on a business trip to nearby he ran for a few months.
She originally said she'd go and even got really excited about the opportunity. But then last minute, she chickened out and canceled the trip. she opted to bail in her dream to stay at home in her same job in the same town living the same house like always, until one day, Irene and a friend of hers were talking about the Pakistani dream again. When her friend asked her But seriously, why don't you do it? This time the question stayed in her head. So when she got home that night, she made a list and realized that there were three factors stopping her from realistically committing to the idea of moving overseas.
She couldn't afford it. She felt responsible for taking care of her mother, and she was scared. Once she started confronting each of these roadblocks more seriously, she realized that if she was really determined to do it, she could find solutions for each one. To keep costs low, she could rent out her apartment while she's away. She has a friend who has actually been thinking of moving to the city, maybe she'd be interested. Then she had almost four months of vacation time accumulated.
If she made sure to spend as little as possible in the next few months. Surely, she could have enough money saved up by the end of this year. Then she realized that her mom's happiness isn't her responsibility. She could leave her mom with the contacts of different community groups that she can join while she's away. Maybe not having Irene daily visits would push her mom into making her own new enriching social circle. As for the fear, she called a friend who had dropped everything to move abroad to ask her about how to manage this part.
This friend made her realize that she could let fear control her life and stop her from making her dreams come true. Or she could face them. She'd go to Pakistan and have to just accept that she probably be scared on some days of the adventure. She joined solo women traveler groups on Facebook and found meetup events in the town she plans on living in that way when she has those days when she's extra scared, she can find comfort in connecting with other like minded people. Now that these obstacles have been resolved, she has no more excuses. She's ready to start planning her adventure.