I was entering a new decade of my life at 30 and decided to take inventory of my life. I was happily living in San Francisco with a wonderful group of friends. I had a rent-controlled apartment and had saved enough money for a down payment on a home.

After a while, though, I felt like something was missing. I needed somewhere that would foster my creativity and give me a new perspective. So, at 30, I quit my job and took that money to put toward living in Italy for a year. In that one year in Florence, I learned more about myself and my self-worth than I'd learned in my entire life up to that point.