JUST DO IT ALREADY!

If you are struggling with moving abroad due to the million and one excuses that's floating around in your brain, on why you SHOULD'NT, then I know exactly how you feel. Here's my story on the battles I fought with inside my head: 

 

In February 2014, I knew without a shadow of doubt that I was going to move abroad and that I wanted to make that happen by Feb 2015. Once my mind is set on something...it's set.  I just didn't know where to begin!!! I spent at least 2 months going back & forth with small battles in my head over this topic. I initially thought that the first thing that I needed to do was to research which countries I might enjoy living in. Not the case, this is where my indecisiveness started along with all the questions in my head that I needed to find answers to. 

 

  

My young adult daughter whom I feel is WISE, WELL BEYOND her years, has an old soul and is very mature for her age!  She was the only one that I "initially" really ran a lot of all my ideas across, primarily because I wanted to use her reaction(s) as a basis of what my other family members will say when I told them.  Well after about a month of tossing ideas to her, she may have gotten irritated with me and finally said "Mama, I'm going to tell you what you've always told me...."Stop talking about it and JUST DO IT".  And she was correct.  Before I began telling my close friends and family of my plans, I needed to have a solid plan.  Like with ANY project I've worked on in my career, a project plan is needed and it needs to be carefully planned out. It needs to have timelines, tasks, a projected budget and all the milestones to identify that I'm meeting my goal as scheduled.  

 

 I finally sat down in May and planned out my finances. I had to identify how much money will I need to have put aside in order to live at least 12-18 months in another country. I first and foremost wanted to ensure I had enough funds to live off of, IF I no longer had any income coming in. The cost of living in the Dominican Republic is amazingly low compared to The US.  My monthly cost of living budget includes the following: 

• Rent (400\month) 

• Utilities 

• Cell phone bill\ calling cards 

• Groceries 

• Tithes  

•  Misc. funds (bus\taxi fare, extra curricular activities\outings, household items etc...) 

 

And then I've allotted for yearly expenses: 

• Health Insurance 

• Airline tickets to fly back home 

• Visa renewals  \ Attorney fees

 

After printing out my budget plan, tweaking it several times, I then sat down with my husband FIRST and went over everything financially. I usually don't look forward to his opinions, but above anything else, His opinion, thoughts and emotional support will be my major lifeline in this mission. I value them dearly.  HE IS MY LOVER'S ROCK! 

 

The next conversation I would have was going to be with my mom.  My mom, whom by all accounts, is a true ANGEL. She's my cheerleader!  She whole heartily supports me and had given me recommendations on the steps I should take along the way.  I was truly quite surprise!  However, as the time draws nearer she's getting more nervous than I am.    Of all the people, her feelings  towards my mission touches my soul the most! Yes, she's tried to discourage me from going SEVERAL SEVERAL times, but in her heart of hearts she knows I'll be fine. 

 

UPDATE: TODAY (11/14/14), I bought my airline tickets to Peru and The Dominican Republic.  I have so much anxiety right now!!