Most mornings I wake to the sound of monkeys howling from the trees in my yard. I practice yoga overlooking the ocean, get around town on my bicycle, eat fresh organic local food, and go to sweat lodges or full moon ceremonies with my friends. Just another day in Costa Rica.
It’s hard to believe how much my life has changed.
Four years ago I led a fairly conventional city life. At the age of twenty-four I worked in an office as a project manager, went to trendy cocktail bars with friends after work, spent hundreds of dollars per month on clothes, and I always had a boyfriend.
On paper, I was living the American dream, but I wasn’t happy at all. I didn’t know to relax or center myself, I based my self worth on my relationships and my career, and my life consisted of constant distraction to avoid my anxiety. Despite my discontentment, I planned to continue down the conventional track I was on.
But the universe had other plans for me.
In one synchronistic sweep my boyfriend broke up with me, my best friends stopped speaking to me, and I was laid off from my job. I felt like I had hit rock bottom. Though I knew that these events meant that I needed to re-evaluate my life.
So I booked a one-way ticket to Costa Rica.
I had barely traveled previously, but my life had become so uncertain that I felt I had nothing to lose. My plan was to spend a month relaxing at the beach before returning to start a new life in New York City. I thought it would be a long vacation and then I’d be off to graduate school.
Instead I fell in love with Costa Rica.
Though admittedly, in the beginning I struggled. For the first time in my life I was truly alone. Living in the remote jungle miles from bars, shops, and restaurants, without wifi or television, the distractions from my old life no longer existed. Without work to do and friends to visit I felt antsy and out of my element.
Then the jungle wrapped its vine around my spine. Somewhere between swimming in the warm turquoise ocean and walking for miles down deserted beaches, I began to surrender to my surroundings. I realized that I had everything I needed from the sun, the sand, the sea, and most importantly from within myself. I felt content.
Since then I’ve sold everything that I owned for the freedom to live nomadically all over the world. I’ve trekked in the jungle in Colombia, driven motorbikes through rice fields in Indonesia, swam in waterfalls in Laos, surfed in the ocean in Morocco, and seen more of this beautiful world than I ever imagined I would. Four years and dozens of countries later, and I still call Costa Rica my home.
Some may say that I’ve run away from the “real world,” but I believe that I’ve finally found it. I’ve built a successful travel blog that has touched millions of people, become a certified yoga teacher, a Reiki practitioner, and most importantly I’ve found my calling in life.
To plan your own life changing trip to Costa Rica, check out Camille’s ebook The Ultimate Guide to Costa Rica here.
