The Hard Truth About Why I Went Nomad with Just $900 (And What I'd Do Differently)

Sometimes the most responsible choice is the irresponsible one…

Plage de la Gravette - Antibes

Life's biggest moments often come down to a simple choice: jump or stay put.

When I found out I was pregnant with my now 18 year old daughter, I wasn't planning a family. I definitely wasn't in what most would consider an 'ideal situation' to start one.

I jumped anyway.

When I stood on a crane platform 80 feet in the air, on a beach front in Faliraki, elastic cord my only safety net, every logical part of my brain screamed 'step back!'

I jumped anyway.

And when the opportunity came to sell everything we owned and board a plane to Cyprus with just $900 to our name, a 4-year-old under my arm, and absolutely no clue how we'd make it work?

You guessed it. I jumped anyway.

Some might call it reckless. I call it trusting that when you take bold action, the universe tends to meet you halfway.

Jump and the Net Will Appear - John Burroughs

The Real Risk vs The Stories We Tell Ourselves

When we announced our plans to sell everything and move abroad, the reactions from friends and family surprised me:

• "But what about your daughter's education?"

• "What if you run out of money?"

• "What about your career?"

• "Isn't it irresponsible to just leave everything behind?"

But in all honesty, as emotional beings we often confuse comfort with security.

The real risk wasn't in leaving.

The real risk was in staying.

Staying in a life that felt too small. Teaching my daughter that dreams are things you talk about but never chase.

Wondering 'what if' for the rest of my life.

We had far less to lose than people thought. No mortgage. No corporate career I loved. Just some furniture, a lot of stuff we didn't need, and a burning desire to create a different life.

What Actually Holds Most People Back

It's rarely money.

Sure, having a healthy bank balance makes things easier, but I've met countless travelers and entrepreneurs who started with less than we did.

The real barriers are usually:

• The fantasy of perfect timing (spoiler: it doesn't exist)

• The comfort of endless planning

• The addiction to certainty

• The fear of looking foolish if it doesn't work out

I see so many people stuck in the planning phase. Waiting for the perfect moment when everything aligns.

Enough money, enough knowledge, enough certainty.

I made a video years ago titled ‘Don’t Live a Limited Life’ talking about this very thing. And I remember someone messaging me and saying something along the lines of ‘it’s easy for you to say’.

Except it wasn’t!

It wasn’t easy for me to say or do. I just made a choice, and the truth of it is that you figure it out as you go, because you have to.

Assessing Your Real Risk Level

Before you dismiss all this as reckless optimism, let's get practical about risk assessment:

Ask yourself:

• What's the absolute worst that could happen?

• If it all went wrong, what would recovery look like?

• What skills do you have that could generate income anywhere?

• Who could you count on if you needed help?

• What's your minimum viable monthly budget?

NB: Tim Ferriss calls this ‘fear setting’ and attributes this ‘risk assessment’ exercise as the secret behind much of his success!

For us, the worst case was having to move back home and start over. Not ideal, but hardly life-threatening.

We had friends whose couch we could crash on, skills we could monetize, and the ability to learn quickly.

The Power of Burning Your Boats

There's something magical about having no Plan B.

When going back isn't an option, you get creative real fast.

Those first few months in Cyprus, watching our limited funds dwindle, sparked more creativity and action than years of comfortable planning ever did.

We:

• Learned new skills daily

• Said yes to opportunities we might have overlooked

• Built relationships that turned into business partnerships

• Found solutions because we had to

Would I Do Anything Differently?

Simple answer; No.

Should I have prepared more? Saved more? Planned more?

Maybe, but preparation may well have turned into procrastination, extra saving might have become an excuse to delay, and additional planning might have revealed too many reasons why it wouldn't work.

Sometimes you need to leap before you're ready.

Making Your Own Leap

If you're reading this thinking about your own leap, here's what I want you to know:

• You probably need less than you think to start

• There’s never going to be a ‘right’ time

• Your problems will change, but they won't disappear

• The growth happens in the gaps between planning and reality

Start here:

1. Calculate your minimum viable budget

2. List your marketable skills

3. Choose a destination

4. Set a deadline

5. Start telling people about your plans

Remember, the biggest risk isn't in leaping. It's in getting to the end of your life wondering "what if?"

Sometimes the most responsible choice is the one that looks irresponsible to everyone else. Because nothing is more irresponsible than living a life smaller than the one you're capable of.

I took that leap with $900 and a dream. Where will yours take you?

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

W.H. Murray

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