Live your dreams, take the dive, go for it.
I realized that I have to travel, or die a little inside. I love traveling so much, I love languages so much… there’s nothing more that I’d like to do than travel more, and travel with my daughter. More than that, by the time she is in grade school I want to be traveling for extended periods of time… perhaps to language schools that offer concurrent children’s classes, perhaps to live in Europe for one year of her elementary school education. And of course, to Nepal, so that she can see an entirely different side of the world first hand, but where I can communicate and have friends and family.
I am glad I became a nurse for the solid income to fall back on, and no lack of ability to find a job around home and anywhere in the US. However, going to nurse practitioner school was plain torture. I wish I could find a career that allowed me to travel and study languages. Then I would be truly happy.
But…
It is very difficult to imagine living my dreams because I sometimes feel that the weight of the world is on my shoulders here at home. My mother worries a lot about what I’m doing with my life, and how I will care for her in the future. All I know is that she’d either come with me, or live with her cousin, or we’d make some arrangement that worked. I also would never sell my cottage, as it’s been in my family for generations and is “home” to me. So I’d not only have to have enough money saved to cover living expenses where we would live, but also the yearly expenses on the cottage.
I’m also not sure how I’d make a living. It’s very discouraging, as a nurse, that my travel options are so limited. It would be nice to be able to teach English as a Second Language, although the chances of getting a job in Europe are scarce. Still, I would enjoy doing it at home, maybe part time, as I would get to meet many people from different cultures. It would also perhaps help me get a job in Asia, even Nepal, if we wanted to do a year abroad.
It seems my options are to just keep traveling short-term, work part-time or per diem as a nurse and take longer traveling trips if I can find a temporary job teaching English, or somehow save money and just travel short-term, little trips like I’ve been doing… not my favorite option.
Maybe my dreams just aren’t a real possibility. Anyone else struggle with how to do what they love and earn a living?
Mother of All Things 
I struggle with this all of the time, especially now as a parent. I am doing the “4 for 5” thing my employer offers and living off of 80% of my regular pay so that I can take the 5th year off to travel. Well, I plan to. I’m waiting for my boss to complete the paperwork she has to to get this started. This keeps me going. Because I feel like I’m suffocating when I have no plans to travel and escape the hum-drum life of the “9-5” life. I hate how our society is set up so we have to work more than we don’t in order to make a living. (At least for office drones like me).
I’ve never heard of a 4 for five plan! That’s awesome. I would totally do that!
I have a friend who teaches ESL at a university. Jobs are hard to get and funding can get cut anytime. She has done two summers in China. But she doesn’t have kids or a cottage or grandparents to take care of. I think the opportunities for you to travel will keep presenting themselves if you keep looking.
I know a couple of nurses here in Holland who teaches nursing in africa…