In 2017, I was at a crossroads. A lot of people I knew were dying, and I started thinking: You really don't know how many days you get or what's promised to you. I figured I'd start traveling abroad. My company was kind enough to let me take a sabbatical while I sorted out my world. It turned out to be a mistake for them, because I decided I wasn't coming back.

Once I stepped out the door and visited places I had only dreamed of and ate food I had only read about, it was ridiculous to think I was going to go back to my "normal life." I wasn't getting any younger. I figured I could always work again if I wanted to. But right now? I wanted to climb a waterfall in Cambodia and ride a motorbike in Vietnam.