“Quit your job, buy a ticket, get a tan, fall in love, never return.” This is a popular t-shirt slogan that pretty much sums up my life right now. I surprised my friends, my family and even myself by giving up my successful corporate life in London to move to Costa Rica in search of freedom and happiness.
In January 2013, I was sitting at my desk in the London office of an international law firm, where I had been working as a lawyer in the Project Finance department for 5 years. Staring out the window at the cold, rainy city below, I realized I was miserable. I had just turned 31, and I was over-worked, burnt out and depressed. I was working on a huge deal and I hadn’t had a day off in weeks. My work had take over my life.
One day a friend asked me (after I called crying because once again I had to cancel plans due to work), “If you could do anything in the world, regardless of whether it’s practical, what would you do?” I thought, it would be nice to run a hotel or a bar on a beach somewhere in Latin America… I like talking to people, I love the beach and I speak Spanish.
by Anne Ferris
FINDING FREEDOM IN PARADISE