Well, our truth about selling everything, traveling extensively & coming back to real life, but that was too long for a title... We decided to sell 98% of everything we owned, pause our little BaD business, exercise detachment & travel Mexico by car for 3-6 months to possibly indefinitely & this is how things sorta went!
- On a low day during a 7 day juice cleanse Daniel & I were bickering & realized we had built up all these unnecessary pressures around ourselves (& were also really really hungry) & that with the money we'd been saving for a home & rainy days or whatever would be better suited to detaching & traveling through Mexico for possibly indefinitely living the 'simple' life.
- Juice cleanse ended, all was good, but Mexico thing just stuck & we found ourselves planning to sell off everything & close shop to leave for Mexico in 6 months time with no real plans on what we were going to do with our lives or how we'd even have enough money once we got back to do anything.
- By January 3, 2017 we had sold everything, one of the hard parts was definitely all the special furniture, but otherwise we rented our apartment & had leased one of our cars, so those were easy to give back. Another super hard part was that we never moved away from our families before, so 6 months to indefinitely in Mexico felt heavy since we're so close to our families & had newborn nieces & nephews. The hardest part for sure was pausing our business & not knowing if we'd be back & letting our customers & ourselves down in a way while also leaving the future so open ended & unplanned for was super scary.
- January 3rd we (Brittanny, Daniel & Max Too) hit the road crossing the border at Tijuana & made our way South to La Paz stopping in a few little towns for a night or 2 along the way. Had a hiccup with our Visas, flew roundtrip back to Tijuana in a day & jumped on a 19 hour ferry to mainland MX. Over the course of 6 months we traveled to all 4 corners of Mexico through mountains, highlands, deserts, jungles, mining towns, fishing towns, farming towns, gorgeous oceans, scary beaches, roads lined with fruits, nuts, shrimp & sometimes roads lined with nothing. We encountered the nicest people 98% of the time, a few cops looking for some extra money, but none of the infamous cartels, drug traffickers & murderers that make up 98% of the news.
- June 30th, we crossed the border from Chihuahua > Tucson Arizona after loving Mexico & having an adventure of a lifetime but missing home & our families & our work. We were so free & enjoying the travel so didn't care to lock ourselves down to finding work while in Mexico, so we knew we had to come back & get work going with what we had left before we ran out of money too.
The Conclusion for us is that we like to experience everything & care not to be too attached to anything. I absofuckinglutely would do it again, like right now, & we totally understand why people get addicted to the road & never turn back, I can totally visualize us being those people & being super happy living that up right now, but we just want to try to hybrid our lives. Somewhere between city people on the grind surrounded by our families & old friends along with the vagabond life & spirit. We're ambitious, so we definitely strive to have both. So we're back, opened up shop & hoping to conquer our career goals & watch our lil babies grow up while fitting in 6 months abroad every 2 years or so, but without closing up shop & selling all of our stuff next time..... I am so so glad we did that extreme because it's truly so difficult it would be hard to fathom doing it again. The hardest part isn't the leaving everything behind, it's the trying to pick up & do it again if you decide to come back to "real life." & since we've decided that we'll probably want to teeter between wanderlust & real life, we probably won't sell all our stuff again or leave again until we have people we trust to help run business. It was a needed experience 'cause I can now carry what it means to truly live simple & let go & to be unattached whilst being extremely inundated with all things material & expectations & needs & wants now being back in good ol 'Merica & there is no greater freedom than knowing how to truly be free. No matter how zen I tried to live my life before, nothing could give me the freedom from worry, expectations, thoughts & things that I had when I was physically & mentally detached from those things for the 6 months in Mexico & that feeling is so strong I feel it with me while writing this even though I know I can't physically & mentally be fully in that space again, at least for right now.....
I don't remember any part of the experience being glamorous, in fact the whole preparation to go & the come back was stressful. But the being there & being free was way beyond the glamour I could've wanted, it was true peace & that's something I never felt at that level before. We meditate & do yoga, but we definitely gotta step it up now if we ever want to be on that level without having to be so extreme again. I nonetheless feel much more calm & at peace with the daily stresses of being back & trying to achieve life & career goals, like somewhere I really really know know it's gonna be alright & seriously truly work out for the best, without any doubts anymore. Yah, I have a lot less doubt than I did before, like before I was always striving to find control of my life where as now I know that my intentions are doing their thing & I don't need to be in control to feel like I'm in complete control of my life in a way. & I mean there's no price on the experience & fucking fun of traveling & being able to truly say FUCK IT, it's so so fun I miss it so so much. So yah, I totally suggest traveling extensively in one's life, it's a no brainer no regret win win situation for sure. I also totally suggest detachment & letting go of your things before your things begin to own you, but just know you'll either be addicted to it & stay detached which I think is the best feeling in the world, or you're gonna come back to real life & that can be hard & scary but the unknown is a part of the experience & I believe it will work out for the best, but it's tough re-acquiring the things & life you once had, but trust that you'll do it even better this time around ;).
Viva Mexico Y Viva La Vida!!!!!
A lil post from while we were in Mexico here <3
Currently: in Bad Bungalow, Long Beach, CA