Dealing with Setbacks

I became non-nomadic last year, but I'll be traveling again soon.

I became non-nomadic last year, but I’ll be traveling again soon.

OK. I’m going to be the first to admit that I should have updated a lot more than I have been over the last five months. With that being said, I do apologize. There are no excuses, and I promise not to take such a long hiatus again.

So What Have You Been Doing?

I returned to the United States in July. I spent a month visiting family and friends in Los Angeles, Arizona and Wichita before relocating to Arizona in August. Because this Web site provides me no income, I had to get a job.

That was the easy part. After a quick volunteer session, I was hired to tutor high school students in the AVID Program, a course designed to prepare students with 2.5 to 3.5 GPA’s for college. This was probably the best situation for me because I am still planning to leave the country to teach English. I’ll write more about that in a bit.

Unfortunately, there are not enough hours in a school day to keep me earning a reasonable income. I was hired to sell appliances for a major retailer. Whoever told me that life sometimes takes you in weird directions, I’d like to thank them for that advice in this job. I never pictured myself in a commission job in retail, but people do what people have to do to make a living. And to be honest, I needed the sales training to give me a more business mindset for this Web site.

You’re Going to Travel Again, Right?

Of course, I plan to travel soon, but I am planning to travel differently than I did in 2012 and 2013. Work or volunteering will primarily be my main reason to live in a city outside the United States. I’ll explore on my weekends and show you the sights and sounds of the locale where I currently reside.

I have two options at this point. I can teach English in Japan, or I can gamble and go to New Zealand to work there. Japan seems to be the more likely option, but I’ll keep you informed on what I decide.

Lesson Learned

Even the best plans can get sidetracked. When my job fell through to teach English in China, I was disappointed, but determined to travel internationally again. To paraphrase the late Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, brick walls are thrown in your way so you can prove how much you want something. Basically, if the best things in life were easy, everyone would have them.

Don’t let failure or setbacks keep you from achieving your dreams. The point is to learn from your mistakes and apply the lessons learned to keep yourself on the path to success.

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