This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 10

I’m sorry to say that I’m not sure I could put my hand on heart and honestly say that I really enjoyed this 10 day challenge. But, that doesn’t mean I didn’t think it was a worthwhile activity, because I do. The frustrations of trying to negotiate rubbish Central American wifi on a daily basis to open links, watch videos and upload my own blog not to mention produce the actual content was surprisingly painful.

Having had that little whinge, what I enjoyed most was the deep introspection required of me in the first 4 days. While not entirely easy I found it really rather valuable to think hard about the types of things I wanted, why I wanted them and what was holding me back from achieving them. Having to write this down and publish them for the world to see forced me to focus and I actually feel like I had a few light bulb moments that I hadn’t expected. So what did I enjoy most and also what did I find the most valuable…the productive introspection.

Day 3 where we talked about our vision and that one perfect day was my favourite for the 10 days. I’ve spent plenty of time ruminating over where I want to be in the future and what I want to achieve but writing about it in such detail really helped to bring it to life. Writing in first hand and with an almost minute by minute breakdown made me feel like I was almost there, it made it more real. The mechanics of time management, balancing work and travel and most of the other topics that get covered in the later challenges felt like easier topics for me but finding that vision was up their with the toughest and as a result most rewarding. Thanks @nataliesisson for the push!

This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 9

For the past 9-10 months we have been travelling through some amazing places from Antarctica to Patagonia to the Amazon and now in the Caribbean. In many ways we are absolutely living the dream! But, for the past 6 months my fiancé and I have been planning our wedding (6 weeks and counting until the big day) and for the last month or 2 I have been trying to get more active with my blogging and photo sharing across the social media universe. While wedding planning isn’t work and until now blogging has been more for personal enjoyment than anything else, they both require a good bit of my time on an almost daily basis. As a result, I feel I have been living this challenge for some time.

The solution to balancing your dream lifestyle with work is going to be slightly different for everyone but for me it comes to two basic things, flexibility and a little self discipline. Natalie has spoken several times throughout this challenge that during the course of establishing her little empire she has found herself working on trains, planes and taxis, while waiting in airports or while sitting in her hotel room. I kind of feel the same. Enjoying location independence and the freedom to live and travel where you want means you’re often on the move and your schedule is rarely the same on a day to day basis. In this context, if you’re going to be productive with work you need to take those opportunities to get a few things ticked off your list when and where you can. Right now we have been based on a beach for 4-5 days in a hostel with decent wifi so it’s been relatively easy to slot in an hour or two each day to get jobs done. Usually though, when we’re moving every few days I find I do a lot of things from my phone, doing things offline while travelling on a bus or a flight and then taking advantage of wifi when we get it to post online, send emails or research one thing or another. If I’m able to use those enforced downtime periods productively it means that when we actually get to where we’re going I’m more free to get out on adventures and do the awesome things which form the very reason why we’re living this lifestyle in the first place!

While finding or making the time to work is one thing, maintaining the motivation to actually get stuff done is a whole other ball game and that is where the self discipline comes in. I’m a long way from being a highly disciplined person but would like to think I’m getting better. Very often the prospect of just listening to some music while watching the world whizz by outside my bus window is far more tempting than drafting my next blog or doing some wedding planning . Still, if I am clear in my head as to WHY some work needs doing, and have rationalized it properly against everything else which I need to be doing, then pushing myself just to focus on the task and smash it out becomes easier. I’d be lying as well if I didn’t say that my fiancé has provided ample motivation and drive to get our wedding planning done. Without her drive and organization to get things done we would be far further behind in our planning! The self discipline thing becomes more important when we’re based in one place for a few days as there isn’t the enforced downtime of travel days. During these times the only way stuff gets done is by putting aside an hour or 2 for work so then the rest of the day can be for enjoyment. When those few hours get scheduled in depends on whatever else we might have on for that day. And that is where flexibility becomes important again.

This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day8

Before I started this 10 day challenge I was writing about the adventures which my fiancé were having during our ‘pre-moon’ throughout Antarctica, South America and now Central America. It’s nice to get back to it.

This morning we woke up just as the sun was peering out over Utila which is part of the Bay Islands of Honduras.  There wasn’t a breath of breeze meaning the bay outside our window was like a vast, glass top table.  As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and walked out to grab a coffee, I could hear the compressor going as the dive masters filled our oxygen tanks and could smell the bacon being cooked on the first of the day’s breakfast sandwiches. We were off for a morning of diving and hopefully some whale shark spotting.

We took a quick 20 minute ride out to our first dive site at Ted’s Point and after finishing our gear setup and safety checks we were in the water. As we released the remaining air from our buoyancy vests and sunk below the surface I was once again struck by the incredible marine world which covers so much of our planet.  Around me, my fiancé and our other fellow divers were gently sinking slowly down leaving a trail of bubbles floating gently upwards like a 1000 tiny paper lanterns being released on a breezeless evening.  

As we leveled out and began to fin forward we spread out and each began our own little silent journey of discovery with only the sound of our breathing in our ears.  We paddled to a small wreck and then in, around, under and over countless coral outcrops buzzing with tiny fish of all shapes, colours and sizes.  Huge coral fans waved in the light current while various other coral outcrops gleamed in the dappled blue light filtering down from above.  There was oranges and reds, purples and greens, black and white and so many different shades of blue. Little spiral organisms would retreat into their burrow at the wave of your hand while tiny black fish would charge out to give an overblown challenge when you get too close to their underwater garden.  It’s so different to the world above the surface and infinitely fascinating. Forever changing.

It always takes me 10-15 minutes to completely relax when diving and this morning it wasn’t until we reached the halfway point of our dive and started the return journey in a gentle but steady current that I totally switched off.  My breathing slowed to a deep but steady rhythm almost like when I’m asleep, and my body had nothing to do but float in the current with only the very occasional kick to adjust direction or fin under a rock.  I don’t meditate nor do yoga but the complete, effortless, weightlessness of diving produces for me such an amazing meditative state that it’s hard to put into words.  I didn’t want it to end.

Unfortunately, as sure as night follows day, so does oxygen run out from your scuba tank and after nearly 50 minutes below the surface we pushed back up to the daylight.  It felt great to take off my mask and breath in the slightly salty sea air.  As we headed further out to sea to find some whale sharks I untangled myself from my gear and then perched up the front in the sun.  It was a magic start to the day with more still to come…

Making days like this be a more regular part of our lives is exactly what we’re trying to do. We’ve been doing it for the past 10 months and hopefully have another 10 more to go.  Beyond that, just like we took the decision to quit our jobs in management consulting, it will also be a conscious decision to keep living a version of this lifestyle albeit with a few 'little’ tweaks.  We don’t want the backpacking lifestyle for the indefinite future but having greater flexibility and freedom is part of the plan but can only start with a conscious decision to make it so.