InsideOut Travel—Global Soul Search: Susan Cegavske

by Hillary Easom

Susan Cegavske spent 20 years working in a high-paced corporate environment before stuffing her backpack and leaving everything else behind for a life on the road. After a health scare and reevaluating what was most important in life, Susan quit her job, sold her house in Marin County, bought a plane ticket, and has never looked back. Here is her story.

What made you decide to give up all that was familiar and head out into the unknown?

The whole thing started with a personal growth workshop I took. I was investigating the question, Is there more to life? The guy led us to visualization about our funerals: Who’s at your funeral? What are they saying? Do you have any regrets? Something I recognized was that I hadn’t roamed the planet enough. I thought, Wow, how could I create that? From there, I figured out how I could do it financially and really put some energy into visualizing that dream.

	A TRAVELER'S LIFE
	Global Soul Search: Susan Cegavske
	by Hillary Easom Susan Cegavske spent 20 years working in a high-paced corporate environment before stuffing her backpack and leaving everything else behind for a life on the road. After a health scare and reevaluating what was most important in life, Susan quit her job, sold her house in Marin County, bought a plane ticket, and has never looked back. Here is her story. What made you decide to give up all that was familiar and head out into the unknown? The whole thing started with a personal growth workshop I took. I was investigating the question, Is there more to life? The guy led us to visualization about our funerals: Who’s at your funeral? What are they saying? Do you have any regrets? Something I recognized was that I hadn’t roamed the planet enough. I thought, Wow, how could I create that? From there, I figured out how I could do it financially and really put some energy into visualizing that dream.				Then the whole health thing happened. I had an abnormal mammogram, and it scared me. Suddenly this dream had a timeline. If I didn’t change my lifestyle, I would get really sick. I knew I had two choices: get out or get sick. Around that mammogram time, I realized, “You need to do this. Now.” Where did you begin your travels? What were your initial thoughts? The day that my house sold, I was inconsolable. A friend told me to close my eyes and visualize myself sitting on a porch at 80 years old with a group of children all around me. “What are you telling them about your life?” she asked. “Did you follow your dream? Or did you hold on to your house and belongings because you were afraid?” That did it for me. *"Traveling solo, I’ve felt afraid sometimes—in the words of Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire, 'relying on the kindness of strangers.'"* My first destination was Fiji. I think a unique aspect to my travels is that I gave myself permission to be gone 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, or 3 years. There was no timeline. If you can be somewhere, and you never have to look at your watch and you never have to be somewhere else, there is so much more freedom. Psychologically, it’s amazingly different. For me a year goes by like this: (snap). more >> << home << discuss article >>
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A TRAVELER'S LIFE

Global Soul Search: Susan Cegavske

by Hillary Easom