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![[Part 29] Like any good story, we'll take it from the top. You see, I wasn't always as willing to walk away from a man I no longer loved. There was an earlier version of myself who would have stayed, dwelled a little longer, stunted the growth of my career in the pursuit of love (or something like it). Missed opportunities, there were many. And yet what would our twenties be without a little naiveté to cloud our judgement and lead us astray. And astray it did, all the way to South Africa.
But before I get ahead of myself, an interlude of context is well overdue. Many of you might be wondering where we are now in the timeline. And many more of you might be wondering what would prompt a young twenty-something year old who appeared to have it all going on, to turn around and give it all up. She who owned a house, a business, a career. Appearance, it should be noted, can be misleading. But isn’t that the greatest gift and equal downfall of the 21st Century?
I sold everything I owned, including a bakery, and packed what was left into three overweight suitcases. Okay fine - it was four. But one of those was filled with books, mostly poetry I was really into at the time. Cliché? Probably. But if I was going to sell all my things and move to a foreign country for a guy I barely knew, you’d better believe I was taking Rupi Kaur alongside me for the ride.
Before moving to South Africa, I had dabbled in Lalaland. I had traipsed across the country to Upstate New York with my best friend in tow and drowned my sorrows in numerous bottles of cheap red wine. I had rendezvoused with a documentary film director in not one but three countries, only to find out there is more to life than organic wine and air purifiers. And before this whirlwind of misadventures came the catalyst, the turning point, the defining moment that sent me into a spiral of "try everything once, twice to be sure".
It happened on the very continent I ran away to, but much sooner than you thought. It was 2018 when I outgrew innocence. [more to the story - coming soon] 🍷](https://worldofwanderlust.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)