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The movie "Eat, Pray, Love" taught about how to live in the moment and seize what life has to offer. To live beyond the mundane, to seize the opportunities for emancipation that come our way. To pursue everything that life has to offer. To live in the moment, to ensure that each day is lived as if it were the last.
While we certainly don't advocate jumping from one relationship to the other in search of balance, one major thing about the concepts "Eat, Pray, Love" tried to teach that we'd definitely advocate is... Travel.
Remember that you only have 60 to 80 full years to live; and only around 20 to 40 of those are years where you'll be strong enough to be productive, and to enjoy opportunities that need a certain amount of physical strength, like travel.
In the fashion of "Eat, Pray, Love," if your job allows it, here's one adventurous idea: how about living in one different city of your choice for one month, for a whole year?
Or if that's not doable, how about doing that for two weeks a year?
Vacations are hardly enough, do you notice? After a couple of days in, say, Sagada, Baguio, Cebu, or Bohol, don't you wish you stayed longer?
I felt exactly like that when I visited Bohol. I felt like there's so much to see, so much to do, that the three days I was there was just not sufficient. That's when I got the wild idea to take a year and live a month each in a city of my choice.
Of course, when reality set in, I realized I'd have to rearrange my career. For most of us who are tied to great careers, it's hardly doable to have a leave of absence for a whole year, without due reason. At best, one can take advantage of 10 days' worth of vacation leave absences. One year sabbatical leaves are only available for faculty with certain academic and salary grade levels. Plus, such a sabbatical comes with the expectation of a study completed.
This is still very doable, though. How about skipping on mini-vacations the whole year round, and setting just one single stretch of time to take your vacation? Ten days in a beautiful place should give you enough time to explore the place and feel almost like a local.
Or if you have been planning a career veer, you may also save for a year's worth of unemployment, and take a sabbatical before you find a new job. That way, you'll have your year of rest, and you'll be able to see the world more.
Life does not have to be a strait-laced, boxed-in, brick by brick, step by step process that wouldn't deviate from a blueprint. It is how you make it. If a wild idea like this would fit into your life, why not, right? Life is what you make it. Enjoy!
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