I was frustrated.  I knew that travel was important to me.  I knew that there were so many places in the world that I wanted to experience, but I didn’t have the resources (aka - time and money) to do what my heart was calling me to do.

It was like I could literally feel the weeks and months of my life slipping away, punctuated only by the sting of unfulfilled dreams and missed opportunities.

Then, a series of important “shifts” happened in my mindset that changed my life forever.  It finally “clicked” for me.  Going after my travel dreams was not a matter of working harder.  I needed to focus on working smarter.  

I could suddenly see that there were other paths that I could be taking to achieve my travel goals.   If I wanted to make these bucket list trips happen NOW and not wait until I was retired, it was going to take some changes in my own life to make it happen.

Now, we have been blessed by having had the opportunity to check some of the big things off of our bucket list (27 countries and counting!)    We have had enough of those “a-ha” travel moments to fill a lifetime. 

The thing that now gives me the deepest satisfaction, though, is being able to share the world with my kids (who already have more stamps in their passport than most adults get in their whole lives!)