There was no real plan. I had six months to gain decent employment and come up with 3,000 and some odd dollars to cover supplies, vaccines and the first payment for my dream opportunity, the travel program Remote Year. This was it. I had been struggling for as long as I could remember with the idea of a normal life. A 9-5 job, living in the same city for more than a year, irresponsibly buying a BMW at 24, buying property at 26, falling in love: that’s what everyone else was doing but I knew I was too original for that.
I realized, shortly after I started graduate school, that not only was I a real artist but I operated like one. I begin to feel strongly that the mornings were made for eating and meditating and catching up on episodes of Law & Order. Afternoons were built for roaming and cleaning and answering emails, just a few, as to continue the facade of being a real adult. Evenings were meant for exciting documentaries and hilarious conversations with friends and working, working as in writing. I’ve rarely created any decent body of text before sunset and even as I type this the night has fallen and the reflections of headlights dance around my dark walls letting me know it’s safe to work now!
I needed to be in a space that would allow me to live just as I want and throw me into environments where I had nothing to answer to but the pressure of my own beating heart. I have been abroad for days and haven’t found the proper words for the gratitude I feel to have made it to that kind of freedom.
I never earned that money on my own. My people gave it to me, with no expectations and with no requirements. For the first time in my life I knew for sure how many people loved me, thought well of me, believed in me, saw talent in me, reached back to their memories of me from 20 years ago and thought “That Joi always shared her candy with me so I think I’ll help her live her dream.” I’ve never felt more supported in my life and I want to say thank you. Every dollar, every prayer, every positive thought, every freaked out phone call and weary text message has not been for nothing. I’m traveling the world, diving headfirst into cultures and ways of life different than my own, I’m writing, I’m doing crazy little jobs to make money (but what else is new,) I’m talking to God like it’s my job, I’m cleansing my body and making it better, I’m building new and healthier relationships, I’m moisturizing my hair, I’m appreciating the beauty in everything around me.
I’m gone. And it’s all because of you.
Eternal Thanks.
Gone Girl Travels 