I don’t like using declarative statements.
I find they come back to bite me in ass – that being said, I’m not going to make any declarative statements on this blog – well, except that one. Nothing in my life is set in stone, it’s a journey, which, I’m sure, will continue to have many, many twists and turns.
While admittedly, I’m a person who has trouble making up his mind – I either tend to mull things over and over and do nothing or make snap, unthought-out decisions which sometimes have bad ramifications – but when said mind is made-up, I follow through, good or bad.
A few months back I made a decision; I wanted an adventure – a life-changing, wipe the slate clean kind of adventure. I was going to sell all my worldly possessions, give up my apartment, put the cats into foster-care and embark on a trip ’round the world.
Now, I wasn’t considering doing it overnight, something that big takes a lot of planning.
This was my timeline:
1/10-9/10 – prep the sale – I’d made a lot of money using eBay in the past, and I was going to go that route for all the small, shippable things; collectibles, kitchen items and home decor. Half.com for all my books and DVDs. Craig’s List when I got to the big stuff, like furniture and such.
9/10-9/11 – Sell everything I own… I figured a full year would be the perfect amount of time to rid myself of all my extra baggage.
12/21/11 – leave for South America – I wanted to hit the places I didn’t hit while filming 5 Takes: Latin America. (Available on iTunes – $1.99 per ep or $12.99 for the eight episode season – worth it at twice the price.)
Of course, the Plan had many contingencies; it pretty much hinged on the main goal of paying off all my debt. And that being said, I’d decided not to bring anything else into my life except, food, clothing and basic necessities of life – no more books, no more toys, no more kitchen gadgets - no more anything unnecessary. I was going to curb my spending as and use only cash to pay for anything I may have needed to buy.
(Not buying anything is hard, but really, “If I’m going to be selling everything I own,” I thought, “it doesn’t seem wise to keep bringing things in.” Of course, all rules have exceptions and I justified buying an iPad, in return for getting rid of all my books. It made sense to me…) ”For every article of clothing I buy,” I said aloud to no one in particular, “I’ll get rid of a similar article of clothing.”For example, I bought an awesome brown ultrasuede fedora so, when I got home, a ball-cap went right into the donate pile.
So, in order to take my trip around the world, all I needed to do was sell all my possessions. The fact is, I don’t have anything of value – except my winning personality – This was going to be hard.
I started selling things well ahead of schedule ’cause I didn’t want to spend any money on the shipping materials – as I don’t work in an office, I’m not lucky enough to borrow items like padded envelopes, bubble wrap and packing tape.
I was going to sell everything of value first via online auctions and then in a few months open an eBay store to sell the rest. Because, I believed this to be a year long process, I pulled everything from the cabinets and drawers and began ridding myself of the things I can live without - and in the process simplified my life- does anyone really need sixteen wooden spoons? I would’ve considered myself successful if nothing else came from this adventure other than living a simpler life… I needed a change, a clean slate, an adventure.
Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine I’d get paid to travel around the world – again – but then I booked a job singing and being funny on Holland America Cruise Lines MS Rotterdam. My contract lasts just under a year and I’ll be traveling, on someone else’s dime, mind you, from Alaska to South America and everywhere in between.
The job on the ship allows me to complete the first leg of my world tour – without having to sell everything – and also makes it very easy to pay off all of my debt – two goals in one! I wanted to hit North and South America and I’m going to hit North and South America.
I’m about to begin a very exciting chapter of my life and I can’t wait to find out where else it’s going to take me.
This is a perfect example of “be very careful what you ask you, because you may very well get it”
@ JAG – Tell me about it!