If someone were to look back at my life in 2016, things would have seemed pretty neat: I was about to finish a promising trinational business degree, I had a contract with a successful service provider company, a loving relationship and family, a nice car… Sounds wonderful, right?

And it was – but just not for me. However perfect my life looked from the outside, inside I felt stuck und frustrated. It had once been my dream to start a marketing career in Germany after my studies, to climb the career ladder and to be „successful“. But as I got closer to fulfilling this dream it suddenly felt empty. As I approached the day of my graduation, one thing became undeniably clear: I needed to find a path that held a deeper meaning to me. The problem was that I had no idea what this „deeper meaning“ was for me. After a few years of unsatisfying work, I decided to drop everything and try backpacking.

All I knew was that there existed an exciting world out there. And I figured that maybe if I go and explore, if I learn more about the outside world, it might teach me something about the world within. At first, I was anxious and doubtful at the prospect of backpacking alone and I wasn`t the only one—my loved ones thought that I had lost my marbles. Yet that nagging frustration persisted, and it pushed me to overcome my doubts and fears of being judged. To finance the trip, I worked three jobs at a time and I sold everything that wasn’t essential. The moment I had enough saved, I booked my flight. I was off into the world.