Seeking Adventure and Finding Me in 2023
Seeking Adventure and Finding Me in 2023
Seeking adventure and finding me in 2023 became about far more than collecting passport stamps. It was a year of taking chances, rebuilding my confidence, meeting people across cultures, and remembering who I was beyond motherhood and responsibility.
When I began my nomadic journey in June 2022, I had no idea what life had in store for me. I only knew that I needed a radical change.
I had devoted 18 years of my life to raising my son. I loved being his mother, and I remain proud of the young man he became. Still, as he prepared to begin his own adult life, I could feel another version of me waiting to emerge.
It finally felt like my time to check off some of those bucket-list dreams I had placed on hold.
Beginning My Nomadic Journey Close to Home
During the first few months, I did not leave the United States. Instead, I spent time visiting relatives and exploring my home state of North Carolina with my son.
That period gave us a chance to make memories before life shifted. We saw familiar places with fresh eyes, spent time with family, and enjoyed the final stretch before he moved into his college dorm.
Once he checked into school in September, I took the leap. I dropped him off, grabbed my passport, and left the country the very next day.
My first destination was Costa Rica.
My First Leap Did Not Go as Planned
I wish I could say my first international stop unfolded like a dreamy travel montage. It did not.
I had not done enough planning. I ended up spending nearly a month on a property without an easy way to leave. I did not have reliable phone service, and local taxi drivers were quoting prices that felt excessive.
Instead of feeling free, I often felt isolated and overwhelmed. It was not the bold beginning I had imagined for my new life.
However, Costa Rica taught me an important lesson. Wanting adventure is not the same as preparing for it. Freedom still requires research, transportation plans, communication, and a realistic understanding of where you are staying.
The experience shook me, but it did not send me home for good. In fact, it made me more determined to figure out what this new chapter could become.
Returning to the Work That Grounds Me
After Costa Rica, I returned to the United States to attend Expo East, my favorite natural products convention, with one of my homegirls.
Being surrounded by food entrepreneurs, wellness brands, and people shaping the future of the natural products industry helped me reconnect with a familiar part of myself. Food has never been just something I enjoy. It is also central to my professional life, my curiosity, and the way I understand communities.
Once the convention ended, I traveled to Zambia to work directly with farmers. That experience became my first real taste of living and working abroad again after many years.
I love being in-country. I love working alongside food producers, listening to their challenges, and understanding how agriculture connects to livelihoods, culture, gender, and community development.
For the first time since beginning my nomadic experiment, I felt certain that I had made a good decision. Zambia reminded me that travel becomes most meaningful when I can connect it to service, learning, and the work I care about.
Starting 2023 With Purpose in Guyana
I began 2023 with another agricultural project, this time in Guyana. Like Zambia, the experience gave me a strong sense of purpose.
By then, I had visited three countries that were new to me: Costa Rica, Zambia, and Guyana. Although each experience had been different, together they showed me that I was moving in the right direction.
I wanted to know what else the world had waiting for me. Therefore, I began searching for more opportunities, including paid consulting contracts and volunteer projects.
That search eventually took me to Uzbekistan, Turkey, Ecuador, Germany, Austria, Czechia, Greece, Malta, and Portugal. With the exception of Germany and Portugal, each country was completely new to me.
Building a Life Through Work, Travel, and Connection
Throughout the year, I accepted volunteer assignments, gained new clients, and found unexpected opportunities to share my knowledge.
I spoke at universities in both Samarkand and Tashkent. Food Tank featured me on its podcast. Digi Nomad interviewed me, and Her Network included my story in a feature about my work and journey.
Each opportunity reminded me that I had something valuable to contribute. I was not simply wandering from place to place. I was building a life that connected my professional experience with my love of food, culture, travel, and storytelling.
The year gave me a sense of purpose that I had not felt in a long time. It also gave me pride in how far I had come.
Starting over can make you question everything. You wonder whether you are being brave or irresponsible. You wonder whether you should remain inside the life you already know. However, every project and meaningful connection gave me another reason to trust myself.
The People Made the Journey Meaningful
I met more incredible people than I could possibly count. Some entered my life briefly, while others became genuine friends.
One of the most memorable parts of the year was volunteering with the groups at Englischhausen in Germany. I chose the program because it offered something simple but special: the chance to spend time talking with German people and learning about their lives.
I wondered how often I would get an opportunity to sit, talk, laugh, and connect with people without rushing through a traditional sightseeing schedule. As it turned out, joining the program was one of the best decisions I could have made.
I left with meaningful bonds among both the participants and the other volunteers. Those relationships reminded me that culture is not something we only experience inside museums or historic buildings. Culture also reveals itself through conversations, meals, humor, misunderstandings, and the ordinary stories people share.
That is the kind of travel I value most. I love seeing beautiful places, but I also want to understand how people live, what they care about, and how they see the world.
Making Time for Art, Culture, and Exploration
In between working and volunteering, I gave myself time to explore. I am a serious art lover, so I visited museums, galleries, historic buildings, public squares, markets, and cultural landmarks whenever I could.
I walked through cities without always knowing where I was going. I studied architecture, tried unfamiliar foods, watched people move through their daily routines, and allowed curiosity to guide me.
Some of my favorite memories came from those unplanned moments. A quiet café, an unexpected conversation, a street filled with music, or a beautiful work of art could change the feeling of an entire day.
Travel gave me room to become curious again. It helped me see the world with wonder, but it also helped me see myself more clearly.
I Was Seeking Adventure but Finding Myself
At first, I thought this chapter was about adventure. I wanted to visit new countries, experience different cultures, and build a life that felt less predictable.
Yet the greatest discovery was not a destination. It was me.
I rediscovered the woman who existed before motherhood consumed most of my energy. I found the consultant who still had meaningful work to offer. I found the speaker, storyteller, student, teacher, and explorer who had not disappeared.
She had simply been waiting for room to breathe.
That does not mean every day was easy. I faced loneliness, uncertainty, financial stress, logistical problems, and moments when I questioned my decisions. Still, those challenges became part of the transformation.
I learned that courage does not always look dramatic. Sometimes courage means booking the ticket. Other times, it means admitting that something is not working, changing direction, and trying again.
What 2023 Taught Me About Reinvention
Seeking adventure and finding me in 2023 taught me that reinvention does not require rejecting the life you lived before. My years as a mother, consultant, advocate, educator, and food-systems professional came with me.
I was not leaving those identities behind. Instead, I was learning how to carry them into a larger life.
I also learned that it is never too late to become curious about your own possibilities. You can reach a point when one chapter begins to close and still feel excited about what comes next.
Sometimes we spend so much time caring for others that we forget to ask what we need. My travels gave me space to ask that question again.
The answer was not simply more travel. I needed purpose, connection, creativity, freedom, meaningful work, and a life that allowed all those parts of me to exist together.
In 2023, I traveled farther than I had expected. More importantly, I came closer to myself.
Keep Exploring With DG Speaks
Continue the journey with my DG Speaks travel stories, explore my reflections on how travel can become a political act, or read about my experiences in Nuremberg, Germany.
You can also follow my Camino de Santiago journey, where travel, personal reflection, culture, and community came together in an entirely new way.
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Planning your own journey? You can search tours and cultural experiences through GetYourGuide, compare affordable stays through Hostelworld, and explore SafetyWing travel coverage.
