Over the past couple of months, my life has been facing a lot of changes and I suddenly found myself in a situation of not having a job, not having a reason to stay in the Netherlands anymore (which I never was a big fan of anyways) and not having anywhere else to go either. What to do?

Sometimes, when you have all the freedom to choose, it is hard to actually make a choice. So I let circumstances and coincidences choose for me. I suddenly got contacted for two different freelance opportunities – and while one of them didn’t end up working out, the other one did. I had played with the thought of becoming a freelancer a couple of times in the past, but never quite had the guts to go for it.

It was a now or never kind of situation. And I went for it! But not before deciding on something else. I had loved the freedom of working from home and working partly remotely in my last job and during corona. I did not want to give up on that – and actually, I wanted more! I had also picked up a new hobby (rock climbing) which I wanted to dedicate more time to. And after a rather lousy summer, I was definitely not up for a grey, cold autumn.

One thing led to another and I don’t actually recall when and how I took the decision. But I did. I was going to become a digital nomad, try living in different cool climbing destinations around the world and… enjoy life! (And maybe find out what I want, where I want to live etc. blah blah. But mainly enjoy life.)

Due to corona and time zones, I wanted to make things easy to start with. My first destination was going to be Austria, to move my stuff from Amsterdam to my parents‘ house and spend some time with them. Then on to Kalymnos, Greece. A rock climbers‘ paradise, or so I heard. Let’s see, my flight is tomorrow…

For the upcoming months, I have lots of ideas, but no plans. Due to corona and due to the unpredictability of freelance work, I want to take things as they come. Over the last year, I have learned to appreciate change and to live more in the moment. Too many of my plans and dreams did not come true, and I am not ready to handle more disappointments. Yes, Ms. To-Do-List has decided not to plan anymore.

So… on to an adventurous, spontaneous new part of my life with lots of great climbs and sunny weather!