Life at 35 - who would have thought it would look like this…

'What do you want to be when you grow up?' A question that I'm sure we've all heard when we were kids. For many years, my answer used to be 'I want to be a writer' (… a few years later this changed to 'I want to be a veterinarian' but that's a different story altogether). Given that I am writing this blog right now, I guess that in a way, I did become a writer.

From being a young girl who wanted to be a writer, the first job that I landed was at a Garden Center when I was 14 years old. After that, I worked in a bakery, in a hospital, on a train, as a hostess, as a geologist and as an offshore superintendent. I guess the era when you choose a profession and stick with it for 40 years is gone. Or at least, it was never for me anyway. 

The truth about being a writer

Instead of this becoming a fairy-tale story about how after all these different jobs, I turned out to become a (successful) writer, I have a confession to make. I don't enjoy being a writer. Or well, not as much as I thought I would as a young girl. Most of the time, I suffer from writer’s block and I have to force myself to write two blogs a month. More often than not, I am pushing very close to my deadline to have the blog ready to be included in the next newsletter. As it turns out, I enjoy being a filmmaker and full-time adventurer a lot more than sitting down and trying to get words on paper. Who would have thought!

Why reveal this 'shocking' truth and write a more personal blog? Well, I've just turned 35 years old. For some reason, my birthday is usually a point in the year where I think about where my life is at and where I want it to go. That gives me one year to make that happen and then I'll look again. Turning 35 is perhaps an even more magical number than most others. Mid-thirties. Ugh.

My feelings about turning 35

So, how do I feel about turning 35 and about where my life is at the moment? In three words: pretty darn good! I think it's fair to say that I'm not living the most conventional life or a life that society wants me to live. According to society in some countries, I should have gotten married some 15 years ago and be well on my way to bearing my third child or so. Luckily, I grew up in a country that is a little bit more forgiving to women my age. Even then, riding solo around the world on a motorcycle isn't quite what is expected of me at this age.

Living your own life

Now I've never really understood why society, or, people in fact, care so much about how others live their life.  Perhaps it's just a matter of validating that their own life choices were the right ones by comparing with other people. When you're the odd one out, people get a little anxious. Why is she not doing what the rest of us is doing? Does she know something that we don't? I have no idea whether this is true, or how the human mind functions subconsciously, but I like to think this must be the reasoning.

Luckily, it doesn't bother me what society or people think I should be doing with my life. Because nobody else has to live my life but me. The same principle goes for everybody. You are the only person that can and has to live your life. So you better live it in the way that it makes you the happiest. Some things are simple like that! Looking back now at the past 3,5 years of my life, 10% of my total life lived thus far, I realize that I somehow managed to now make a living doing what I love most; traveling the world while riding motorcycles.

Like any job, I am often caught up in the stress of mundane tasks that come with running a YouTube channel. However, there is not a day that goes by in my journey around the world, where I don’t have a huge grin on my face. I have to pinch myself that I am really doing this full-time. That this is my actual life. Given that my pre-YouTube life wasn't exactly boring either. I backpacked around the world for years and worked crazy jobs from Kazakhstan to Panama and Morocco to Brazil, and many other countries in between. But in terms of being free and doing what I love, the life that I have built right now takes the absolute cake. 

The future

So where will I be in 5 years? I have absolutely no clue. This birthday thing I do, looking back and looking forward, only goes as far as looking one year ahead. No further. And for now, I plan to have seen and shared with you a lot more of the world in the year to come. I hope you'll be there along for the ride. Virtually that is. It will still be just me and my motorcycle on the road and I can't wait to see what's coming!