The Feelings of Complete Freedom During a Year Off

“Yesterday was one of the best days of the trip so far. Was not expecting much of an exciting day but was blown away. Left Capitol Reef and headed southeast on highway 95, absolutely incredible views. Snow capped Henry Mountains to the west, then red rock canyon walls.

Once I hit Glen Canyon, the views opened up, the Colorado River down below, mesas, buttes, red rock all around, stunning, unexpected. Windows down, 70 degrees, cranking music, not a care in the world, not a cloud in the sky, feelings of complete freedom. Never felt so free in my life before, uncontrollable laughter at times, near tears at others, loving life! Wishing all my family and friends could experience the same feeling.”

This was from my journal entry dated 5/13/16. It was the first time I experienced the feeling of complete freedom during my Year Off.

I was about 6 weeks into my year-long sabbatical from work. I had left my stable life at home to travel for a year and to pursue some dreams I had, and I was nervous about what would happen over the course of the year. “Maybe I’m throwing my life and career away”, I thought.

But I jumped into my Year Off and started living my dream. I left Cincinnati on April 6th, 2016 and drove west to California, spent a couple of weeks there, then headed east to Utah. I explored some of that amazing state and was heading south to check out Monument Valley. I was not expecting much out of the day, but the views ended up being incredible, the weather was perfect, and it was just me and the open road. The intense feeling of complete freedom hit me like a ton of bricks.

The feeling is similar to the feeling you got when you were a kid on the last day of school before summer.

You have all this free time ahead of you. Amazing experiences to look forward to. Nothing to worry about. Not stuck in any rooms or buildings. No bosses telling you what to do. Only the open road ahead of you.

The feeling is magnified because you’re an adult. You’ve likely experienced some sort of sadness or hardship in your life already. You know what it feels like to go through some tough times. And because of this, you have a greater appreciation for the good times. Combine this greater appreciation with a complete lack of adult responsibilities and you have the feelings of complete freedom.

A Year Off is a perfect breeding ground for these feelings of complete freedom.

You are financially sound and have plenty of money to meet your needs now and in the future, so you have no worries about money. If you worked out a leave of absence from your job, you have no worries about a job search at the end of your Year Off. You are still young and in good health, so you have no worries about health. Relationships with friends and family are strong so you have a good support system. You are independent and know how to take care of yourself physically and emotionally, so you don’t need any one else to help with that.

Getting out of your comfort zone is another key ingredient for finding those feelings of freedom.

When you leave normalcy and the familiar behind, you experience anxiety. You know you’re going to feel uncomfortable for a while, and you feel anxious about it. It’s like dipping your toe in a pool of cold water, then deciding to jump in. You will be miserable for a while and you know it. But you willingly put yourself in that uncomfortable place anyways. You jump in then quickly jump out. It feels awful, you’re freezing cold, but you get dressed and start to warm up. Eventually, you’re back to feeling fine again. And you realize, “that sucked for a moment but I’m fine now”.

Now, instead of imagining yourself jumping into a pool of cold water, imagine yourself jumping into a Year Off. You are anxious about it. There are many unknowns and things that could go wrong. But unlike jumping into a pool of cold water, a Year Off is something that you desire. So you endure the hardships of saving the money for it and the uncertainty of leaving your stable job and life. You nervously begin your Year Off but you begin accomplishing your Year Off goals. Your dreams are slowly realized.

It’s in this realization that your dreams are coming true where those feelings of complete freedom lie.

And wow are those feelings amazing.

It’s an overwhelming feeling. An addicting feeling. A feeling you want to experience over and over. You’ll likely start laughing when the feeling hits you. Maybe even start crying. I enjoyed yelling out of my car window when it hit me. And if you get out of your comfort zone enough, it’s a feeling that will happen often.

It’s a feeling I hope each one of you can experience at some point in your life. And I’m here to help you if you need me! Please reach out to me if you have a desire to take a Year Off. If you have experienced those feelings before, please describe when and where that happened in the comments below!