You might be wondering why I decided to leave a good, well-paying job in New York City to embark on a life on the road.
To answer that properly, I have to take you back to 2003.
I was 15 years old, and that was the year that I left the comfort of my home and went to study at a boarding school in Singapore.
Being away from home from such a young age made me very independent. It also led me to a thirst of adventures and exploration of new places and cultures.
After four years in Singapore, I specifically applied to colleges in the US because I felt that Singapore was way too small for me. I landed at the idyllic University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, Virginia.
From there, I went for a semester of study abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, started my career in New York City, and took a sabbatical from my job to volunteer for Kiva, a micro-finance organization, in Nairobi, Kenya. As you can probably tell, I can't stay in one place for too long!
My experience at Kiva, as cliche as it sounded, was life-changing. Previously, throughout my life, I never knew what my passions were. But in Nairobi, I met so many inspiring individuals who were working towards something meaningful, and were very passionate in what they do. From entrepreneurs who were solving pressing issues in the social enterprises, to journalists covering important topics in the region. It transformed my outlook on what “work” meant for me. From then on, I knew that there was an alternative to the corporate world where I was working at.
In parallel, all my travels around the world had grown my passion in photography. Everyone who travels brings a camera. So I did, too. I started with badly framed photos taken by a point-and-shoot. Slowly, however, I realized how much I enjoyed taking photos. It was one of the few activities that really got me into a state of flow; I could stop at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, for example, and without realizing it three hours flew by just photographing one particular bunch of flowers that happen to have butterflies on them.
I loved capturing moments and time, I loved connecting with people I photograph, I loved editing my photos and showcasing them. And I also loved that photography is a meaningful endeavor - a compelling photography could even start a movement. It struck me that photography was the one thing that I was genuinely passionate about.
What's more, travel photography would allow me to do what I loved while fulfilling my never-ending desire to see the world. As the saying goes, we only live once, and I wanted to experience the most out of my years on Earth.
Still, it took me another three years to get to this point where I finally had the courage to leave my corporate job and to try out this different world. I was scared to lose my financial security, to potentially not have a health insurance, and most of all, to be branded at best an idealist and at worst, a fool for pursuing social impact-focused jobs and photography.
What pushed me to this decision then? It wasn't a single “Eureka!” moment. Rather, it was a continued process of soul searching which guided me to this path. One question that really helped me was this:
If I were to look back on my life when I’m 80 years old, would I regret not pursuing my passions to travel and give photography a chance?
The answer was a resounding yes.
So here I am, pulling the trigger. See you on the road!