The road less traveled...

As much as I disapprove of the bombardment of advertisements on the internet, I have actually benefited from the targeted advertising on both Facebook and Google. Each of these sites can detect words and topics in your profile and email, and they advertise according to your "interests." Though 98% of the time its useless junk that I don't click on, once in a blue moon something catches my eye that I find really useful. In fact, I first found out about teaching in South Korea from a Facebook ad.

The other day, I was on Google mail and there was a link to a NYTimes article. The catch phrase was something like, "Frequent Flier: Going to Every Country Before the Age of 35." Naturally, I was very interested in a person this ambitious, so I went to the New York Times and began reading about a man named Chris Guillebeau who traveled to 100 countries before the age of 30. The article spoke about his experience with traveling and volunteering, and briefly mention his blog and self-created social movement called "The Art of Non-Conformity." Now this was something that really caught my interest, so I went to the website and continued reading. In fact, what I found was so interesting that I read for over three hours.

Chris' blog tells the story of his life, volunteering in Africa, traveling the world, and being self-employed for his entire adult life. The social movement which he calls "The Art of Non-Conformity" encourages people to do what he's done; not to conform to the expectations of society and instead find a unique way to fulfill their dreams and help others while they're at it. That's not to say that he thinks you have to be different. He just wants to inspire people to do exactly what they want to do in life, and to truly live out their dreams while making a difference.

I am completely compelled by this idea and I've always wanted to do unconventional things, rather than take the safe road. It's not even about conforming or not, it's about doing what makes us happy, despite what others (friends, family, society) expect of us. If you love your 9-5 job than that's great, but if not, why not try to make a living doing something more alligned with your passions?

So far in my life, I've done things that I love and things that I don't love, and I've learned to make changes to improve my situations, rather than accepting something that doesn't make me happy. But, now that my contract is ending in four months, I'm really starting to think about what's next. I know it will include travel for a little while, but I will definitely be back home in time for the holidays. After that, I'm not really quite sure. What it comes down to in the end is, what will make me happy? Though it may be somewhat idealistic to think that I can attain the perfect job or be self-employed in this economy, I fully intend to take on the challenge. Maybe I'll start my own business, maybe I'll work at a non-profit for a cause I'm passionate about, maybe I'll keep traveling and helping others (if I can figure out how to afford that). Right now, I just don't know. But, when I do figure it out, my goal will be to do something that makes me happy, helps others and allows me to make a decent living, because that's what matters. Not what other people think. It's people like Chris Guillebeau that remind me that it is okay to take the road less traveled, and if you do, it might just make all the difference.


Further reading:

The NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/business/21flier.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

To see the blog go to: www.artofnonconformity.com

If you're really interested in this stuff (because it's definitely not for everyone) I recommend reading his manifesto "A Brief Guide to World Domination." Let me know what you think!