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Day 460 of 1827: No Retreating Allowed

Day 460 of 1827: No Retreating Allowed

So… it just occurred to me today.

Five Years Abroad has failed.

The other day, I was talking with an acquaintance about Five Years Abroad, and she asked me why I picked 5 years.

Actually, the number of years that I chose was completely arbitrary.  I could just as easily have picked 6 years, or 10 years, or 2 years… or even an entire lifetime.  That wasn’t really the important part.

What was important to me was to pick some kind of goal that I could stick to.

I wanted to throw away my safety net.

I wanted to shut the door behind me.

I wanted to be 100% committed to my goal.

I wanted to become an international entrepreneur… and I wanted to live like there were no alternatives.

See, if I hadn’t given myself the constraint of not returning to my country of origin, then I might… say, go to Chile for a few months… and then come back.  And then maybe I’d go to Thailand for a few months… and then come back.  And so on.

And to me, that’s not living abroad; that’s just a series of extended holidays.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that lifestyle; on the contrary, I think it would be an incredibly rewarding and life-changing experience for anybody who embarked upon it.

It’s just not what I wanted for my Five Years Abroad.

But as I sit here typing this, I am in my apartment in Santiago, looking out over the same (amazing) view as a few months ago.  I just got back from grabbing lunch from the local Castaño.  I’ve been hanging out with all my friends in the city since I returned from Mexico a couple of weeks ago.

And then it hit me.

Santiago has become my “and then come back” place.

When Paraguay didn’t work out, I came back to Santiago.

When Mexico didn’t work out, I came back to Santiago.

This is not the way it’s done.

It’s time for a change.

And that is why…

I’m going to Thailand!

That’s right; I’m jump-starting the next phase of Five Years Abroad!  For the next 2 years, I will be exploring Southeast Asia and Oceania!

But I’m going to add an extra constraint this time:

No retreating allowed!

I will not return to a place I have already lived unless there is a specific, strategic reason to do so — and even then, I will move on as soon as I have accomplished what I needed to do while I was there.

I will not take on any commitments to stay anywhere for an extended period of time unless I am absolutely certain that it is worth giving up the experiences I could be having in other parts of the world.

I will not go somewhere just because it is familiar, comfortable or “safe”.

I will not retreat into my comfort zone.

Oh… and by the way, while I’m discovering the world outside my comfort zone, my weekly minimum entertainment budget is still in full effect.  Look out for more details on this when I set my goals for 2014!

There are still a few things that I need to wrap up here before I leave for Asia, so I won’t be flying out for another few weeks or so.  Watch for announcements as the departure date gets closer!

door at Mercado de Providencia with multiple locks barring entry
If you always keep one eye on the door, you’ll never stray far from it.
Well, not this time!

Want to hear more lessons learned from Five Years Abroad?  Check out Five Years AbroadCAST!

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