Starting a blog
Part 1
Starting a blog feels like giving birth to a child, you have no idea when will come out, and in the process will probably kill the mother.
The idea of writing a blog has been boiling inside me for months, and has reached a saturation point right now (31 of October, around midnight) as I’m lying in my Airbnb room in Austin Texas.
I’ve decided to medically intervene, and preform a Cesarean section from my bed and into the computer.
There are no exams to be preformed on a idea like a blog, that will indicate if it’s “sick” or should be terminated before birth.
Some ideas just have to be born.
Let’s begin
25 years in Israel, 11 weeks in Europe and now?
A Vagabonding Experiment
Quick story: I’ve lived in Israel for 25 years, and recently went on a trip to Europe. I spent 11 weeks in 8 countries, and had an experience that was so powerful, it made me want to radically transform my life.
During my time in Europe, I met some people who were travelling for longer periods of time, and were using that time to create changes in their lives. After a while, I began to refer to them as the “quarter life crisis people” and was finding myself relating to their stories a lot.
The stories were usually from people around the ages of 25–30 who recently quit their jobs, and decided to travel and explore the world while they work, volunteer, and find many creative ways to facilitate their travels.
The experiments they were conducting can be called “vagabonding” adventures.
Before I went on this trip, I read a book called “Vagabonding” by Rolf Potts. The book introduced me to this term Vagabonding which means long term travel. It inspired me to view my trip to Europe as more than just a good time, and a summer party with Australians in Crazy hostels.
Here is one of my favorite talks by Rolf:
Back to Europe
I was observing the people around me constantly, trying to learn about their trips and ways of living. The more people I met, the more exposure I had to people who structure their lives in creative ways.
Quick examples:
- A woman from Germany, that was working in a hostel in Spain while learning Spanish and surfing. (Spanish with a crazy German accent of course…. ya ya)
2. A guy from the U.S, that was volunteering as A tour guide in a hostel in the south of Spain. (The guy was speaking 5 languages and had an awesome hat)
3. And someone from the U.S, who I met a few times in Portugal and Spain, that was traveling through Europe for a few months, volunteering and working, while figuring out her own hostel opening idea.
These people have inspired me to view traveling completely different.
As a way to experience and learn things about the places I visit, and people I meet, in ways that I never thought of trying before.
“The act of vagabonding is a spectral connection between people long separated by place and time, but somehow speaking the same language” vagabonding
This quote describes exactly how I felt.
We come from many different places, but share similar desires and challenges.
All the roads were converging into one:
The Vagabonding Road
I’ll make a quick stop, to address the use of the term vagabonding.
Yes, it sounds a bit doushy to call traveling vagabonding as if it’s a fancy term. But it’s necessary to make a distinction from the common use of the word travelling.
I’ll use them interchangeably in this blog, but to make it clear, I think the difference between the two is: when people travel, they use the time primarily to escape their lives or take a much needed break and then return home. (Nothing wrong with that at all! and was a big part of my trip to Europe..)
I think vagabonding, refers to people who use traveling as a tool for growth and to create “portals” into different phases of their lives. Of course, escapism is found in everything, and vagabonding is no exception to that.
So to sum it up… no, I’m not opening a cult, or joining a weird group that call themselves vagabonders and go to parties with Tom Cruise.
There isn’t a vagabonding test you need to go through, to know if you’re a vagabonder or not.
Although… if you’re drunk more than 2 weeks in a row in Prague, and start speaking with an Australian accent, then you’re probably not(:
(yes, I’m going to make fun of Australians in every post.. It would feel wrong if I don’t)
Coming back from Europe
I came back to Israel in mid August after 11 weeks, and immediately got into an existential crisis that was pulling me into a depression. I felt I couldn’t go back to work, and physically wasn’t able to get myself to adjust back to my life prior to the trip.
Quick Synopsis:
I was a math Tutor for the last 7 years in my city (Tel Aviv).
My entire life was consumed by this job. I worked as a freelancer at my own tutoring business, and had all my time and resources invested in it. I worked in my 1 bedroom apartment, where I slept and taught in the same room that I set up to be a small classroom.
My passion for learning and changing the education system, is the biggest driving force in my life.
I was consumed with anger towards my high school experience, and spent 7 years in attempt to create something, that will be a correction to that terrible time. My work with my students was that correction.
As I spent every waking moment teaching, and working on tools that will help my students to be successful without me, I reached a point of complete exhaustion.
I felt that I was misusing my most valuable resource, my time.
I love my work and my students, but all of my time and energy went to them. What was left for my development, were bits and pieces.
The way I was conducting my life, became a prison that I was the guard and manager of. I was actively pursuing everyday, a way of life, that killed my creativity and robbed me of my energy.
To truly be creative, and help myself and others, I needed a massive change. I was walking down a path, that would bear no fruits for myself or my students, and would leave me starving for a second chance.
The desire to take this Eurotrip was in me for a few years, but I was always nervous about leaving my businesses and loosing clients and momentum, so I stayed in Israel and didn’t travel outside the country for 6 years.
At August 2015, a friend offered me to join him on a trip to a music festival (Ozora) in Hungary for a week.
This trip was by far, the richest experience of my life.
I went back to Israel for another year of tutoring, with this hunger for travel inside me. At the end of the year, I came up with a plan to spend the summer in Europe.
Back to the story
I came back to Israel, after I finally decided to take a risk and leave my students for the summer, and was unable to go back to work. I had 2 weeks of sleepless nights and barely anything I could do.
After 2 weeks, I decided to try and go back to teaching and see how I would feel. I knew that there is a big chance I will be emotional and the lessons will be bad, but I had to test it and see.
After the first one had passed, where I felt depressed and probably was the most unsmiling that I ever was in a lesson, came another student and another… and then I went to the kitchen for a second to get some water, and told myself in my head: “I’m done, I’m taking a break”.
A few more days of excruciating back and forward, and I made a decision that I was done.
Something shifted inside me, and the decision was made. It was the hardest decision I ever had to take.
In 3 weeks, I got to a point where I knew that in the next few weeks I’m changing my entire life, and now it just needs to unfold and happen.
I had to come up with a plan, or as I tell my students a “game plan”.
Here was my plan:
- sign a 1 month contract with my landlord (for September) that will give me time to organize everything.
During September
2. Tell my students I’m leaving for a while, and our work is going to shift or stop completely.
3. Close my business and my apartment: finding a new tenant, and arrange the transition.
4. Sell my furniture, and put the rest of my stuff somewhere.
5. Come up with a destination for the beginning of my journey, and plan the first 2 weeks of the journey.
6. Say goodbye to family, friends and students (fucking sucks, and incredible at the same time)
Go all the way
why change everything? why so extreme?
When I came back from Europe, my uncle told me: “you can just work for 9 months as a tutor, and travel 3 months when the students have the summer break”.
I pondered the option for a while, and then reached the conclusion:
If my life is shit for 9 months, and the only thing that keeps me going is the 3 months at the end of the year, I need to change this template.
I’f I’m going to change, I’m going all the way.
Roll the dice by Charles Bukowski:
“if you’re going to try, go all the way.
otherwise, don’t even start.
if you’re going to try, go all the way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.
you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.”
Buying a ticket to Canada
Executing the plan was almost impossible in that short period of time, and up until the last day I wasn’t sure if I’ll make it or not in time for my ticket. I bought a ticket to Canada for the 27th of September.
Of course everything that could go wrong did, and in the last week I had to remove 2 wisdom teeth in a small surgery.
The last week before the flight, was spent swallowing rivers of blood, taking antibiotics, getting 5 vaccination for South America, having a fever, and looking like someone punched me in the face with a chair.
Perfect conditions for moving out of an apartment, and saying good bye to friends and family(:
On the 26th (a day before my flight), I went to the doctor to remove my stitches and we found out I had “tmj syndrome”: which is a contraction of the muscles in the jaw, that limits you from opening the mouth and is caused by excessive anesthesia.
Basically, I could barley open my mouth and eat for a few weeks(: I wasn’t sure that the doctor will approve my trip, but we decided I’ll see a doctor in Canada if it won’t resolve itself.
Pushing through the resistance of that month, and the pressures of the last week, gave me a taste of the challenges that will come if I’m serious about creating a real change in my life.
On the 27th of September, I was at the airport with everything I have reduced into these 2 bags:
This was a long journey:
After 30 hours, and 4 flights, I got to Halifax!
The long journey gave me some time to process everything that I’ve been through to get to Canada.
On the 28th of September, I was starting my new vagabonding adventure. Starting my way from North America with the intention of getting to the South.
An American Experiment in 8 months.
