Here unlike a guidance counselor, we are not going to tell you what you should be doing or what "you were made for". In fact, we are going to give you a method to find for yourself what you want to do (if you don't already know it of course). This method worked for us, why not for you? So let's go ?
Introduction:
It's 7am, you get up, it's Monday, and another week of work is starting. Before you even get there, you are already dreaming of the following weekend. You like what you do, you don't mind, but it doesn't enchant you either. You're not going to 'do this all your life'. But then what will you do the rest of the time? Another job that you moderately enjoy? Or something that you really like? Let's be honest, you want a job you really like and this article is there for that.
Who are we ?
First of all, let us introduce ourselves, we are Corentin and Robin, computer engineering graduate for the first and management control graduate for the second. Currently, Coco is a photographer and director and Robin is a digital marketer and naturalist. Before leaving for our world tour, we were both lost. We had just finished our studies but we knew that we had no desire to work in this field all our life. We then set up this world tour project with a school and we raised funds for it.
When we go on a long trip, it is often because we feel an important, almost vital need to leave. Some know why they are leaving, others think they know it, and still others will find out on the way.
A few months later, we have never worked so hard in our entire life, but, paradoxically, we never feel like we are working and we would not trade our daily life for the world. To fully understand the reasons that made us leave, we must go back to our childhood. As a child, each of us has a dream, an idea of what he wants to do with his future. But very often, we end up doing a job that is far from it. As a child, Coco wanted to be a filmmaker and Robin a naturalist. But as we learned, we both moved towards the areas we were good at in school rather than what we dreamed of when we were younger. Before our departure, it was the culmination of our training, we were going to enter working life, but we did not want to. So we left.
Our experience:
In this world tour project (to find out more, click HERE ), we allowed ourselves a maximum of freedom in order to be able to do what we wanted, to be able to evolve without constraints. We then went south to Portugal and then to Morocco. A few weeks later we start to change the way we travel, we go more slowly, meet more people and we get used to this new way of life.
Then, 2 months later, and we are ready to take on one of the toughest challenges of our adventure: crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat. ( link to video )
After these last two months, we have changed, we have evolved in our ways of thinking, but nothing can compare with the change produced by these 20 days on the ocean. In the midst of this immense expanse of water brimming with life, there is no way of contact. No networks, no internet, the only people you can chat with can be counted on the fingers of one hand. But most of your days, you are alone. Alone with entities that we tend to forget so much they are part of us: our body and our mind.
Your second life begins the day you realize you only have one.
During these periods, you start to think about everything: from your professional life to your emotional life, including your social life and your behavior with others. You become the center of your world again during these 20 days. And as the days go by and the thoughts fly by, you start to find answers, some pleasant, some others not so much, but you feel like you are true to yourself and that feels great. These answers end up becoming obvious and you end up thinking about projects, desires ... Your projects and Your desires. When you finally land, you understand the importance of what you have just achieved. But you still have to dare to make these projects a reality.
Our method:
We cannot say that what has worked for us will work for you, but if with a little time you can change your life for the better then it is not that expensive to pay. But after having thought about it for a long time, here are the 5 ingredients that will need to be brought together to create a framework conducive to this inner journey:
A total disconnection. Today, you are aware that we live in an ultra-connected world where we are constantly in contact with our friends, our family or even people we do not know. So much so that we forgot to be in contact with ourselves and our feelings. In addition, with the internet, we have all the answers to our questions right at our fingertips, which makes us forget to think about questions that only we can answer.
To be alone. What might appear to be similar with the first point is indeed quite different. We are not telling you to be completely alone but to be alone with yourself. In particular so as not to suffer the judgments of others on our thoughts. You want to know what YOU want, not how it will be perceived. You have to be able to isolate yourself to better refocus.
Have a goal. You have to have a "simple" goal that is not too demanding physically or even mentally. Having a goal that becomes almost automatic, because without a goal, you can end up being unproductive at all levels. As a result, your thoughts will come on their own as well as questions you didn't take the time to answer.
At least 10 days in a row. In our case, the time it took us to grasp the objective, to make it automatic and to be able to start having interesting thoughts, will have been 10 days. But a longer period, although psychologically complicated, will allow you to make your creativity work all the more, by granting you even more freedom and choice about your future. We are subject to many barriers imposed by our society or by ourselves to adapt.
May this project take you out of the ordinary. This last point will not be useful for everyone but if, for example, you are a skipper and are used to this kind of trip, it will not be useful because you will work as you always have done. It would not be relevant to your thoughts about your work
Some examples which, for us, can meet these conditions:
Atlantic crossing (or any other sea crossing lasting more than 10 days).
A walk in the desert.
All the French GR (great hikes).
The road to St Jacques de Compostela.
After this trip. Once we have achieved to understand what we want to do with our life, we still have to do it. If there are two pieces of advice we can give you is to try and never give up.
It's never too late to make your dreams come true, and you'll never hear anyone who did what they were passionate about saying they messed up their life. Be careful, however, what we are saying is not scientific, and is based only on our feelings as well as on the feelings of other people who have made a similar trip. If you have questions and comments to improve this method, please let us know in the comments or by contacting us on our networks so that we can improve this article!
Small statistic to finish: 100% of those who succeeded have tried.
Thank you for reading this article, so as not to miss any of our adventures, you can follow us on our networks by clicking here. If you are interested in photo prints you can contact us from this link or at this email address: corentin@barrial.fr
Don't hesitate to come and take a look at Coco's photo site.
