Who else is doing life differently?

Am I having too much fun?

That’s a question that suddenly popped into my mind the other day as I was driving along in my van. I was thinking about the last two months of vanlife and doing life differently. I was thinking about what I’ve done and achieved in those two month. The first thing that popped into my mind was that I’ve been having a lot of fun :)

That’s great! But what else? Am I any closer to figuring out my future and what I want to do with my life?

The truth is; not really. Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and writing. I’m getting to know myself better everyday. It’s amazing to get away from ‘normal life’ and everything that comes with it. It’s been amazing to experience myself without all the pressure and expectations that myself and society used to put on me.

But somehow, these last few days, that alone is not enough anymore. It’s great that I’m having so much fun but maybe it’s time to re-direct some of my energy away from surfing and kitesurfing and onto other things.

I want to learn more, experience more - More about what life could be like, what my options are.

This whole ‘Life Done Differently’ initiative is about figuring out what life has to offer if you don’t want to follow the traditional path in life (have kids, get married, work 9-5). But how do you go about that?

Well, I’m not really sure yet. But I’ve been thinking, one thing that definitely can’t hurt is talking to other people who are living a different kind of life (or have at some point).

I would really love to meet people who have chosen not to follow the traditional path in life. I want to hear their stories and learn from their experiences.

What’s ‘different’?

I’m not going to attempt to define what it means to be ‘different’ any more than I would attempt to define ‘normal’. I think it’s up to each of us to decide what our normal and our different are.

But, in this specific case, I’m looking for people who did not follow the traditional ‘got married, had a bunch of kids and worked 9-5’ kind of path. Maybe you did things in a different order, maybe you choose to have kids without a partner or maybe you choose to have none at all. Maybe you got married really late in life. Maybe you’ve been traveling the world and working on the go. Maybe you’ve had lot’s of different odd jobs and careers.

Basically, I want to connect with people who chose not to follow the traditional path in life and who are at least 30 years old (just cause I think you don’t really know yet what you want in your 20s).

If that’s you, I want to hear your story. I want to know why you chose a different kind of life. I want to hear about your life; what you did/are doing, how you got there and what you have planned for the future. I want to know what brings meaning and happiness to your life. I want to know what you learnt along the way. I want to know what you would tell your 33-year-old self if you had the chance.

I want to learn from you and be inspired – and maybe inspire you a little bit as well.

If this sounds like you, I would absolutely love to hear from you. You can contact me here or via my Facebook page.

And if you know someone who might be willing to talk to me, I would really appreciate it if you would share this with them and encourage them of get in touch. Thank you!