When not one, but two major life changing events knock you sideways leaving you breathless and dazed as to what’s just happened, you need to take a step back to try to make sense of everything.  The path I thought I was heading down had come to an abrupt dead-end on a personal level. On a professional level, I could have kept clocking in and clocking out (often a lot later than I would have liked), I had a great job and career. But having not had a decent holiday in nearly three years, during a period of my life where I was experiencing for the very first time what grieve truly was, it was time for a change of pace and lifestyle.  With two special birthdays on the horizon, in two different countries, they were just the excuse I needed to take some time out.

Taking a leap into the unknown, I’ve resigned from my role at Viva magazine, put everything I own into storage and I’m taking what initially was four months off to travel.  With an open ticket and opportunities for further travel continuing to present themselves it’s hard to imagine where I could possibly be this time next year.  I know you don’t get many opportunities in life to do this and I’m lucky to be able to set of on a journey and see where the wind will take me, it’s a pretty liberating feeling.

When I told my people what I was doing many said they were jealous, others joked and said I was heading off to have my “Eat, Pray, Love” moment.  It’s not the case.  I consumed enough wine over the past 18 months, to substitute any weight gain from eating too much.  Yes I’m going to India as part of my journey and I’m keen to explore meditation more.  It’s a new concept to me and has definitely made a difference with the few times I’ve tried it and I’m looking forward to having the time to do it more often.  And Love, well if that happens it’s a bonus, but it’s not my core objective, which is to have a holiday, and a long one at that.

Not The Jealous Kind is aimed not to make you jealous (I’ve earned this), but to share with you what I’ve been up to, and what others have shared with me along my journey while enjoying the things I love the most, travel, photography, beauty, fashion and wellbeing.  It seemed appropriate that the last issue I should work on at Viva magazine was The Vitality Issue.  As I waited to board the plane to commence my adventure and pondered what lies ahead for me, I read its cover line “How to Squeeze The Most Out Of Life”, and I thought to myself, that’s exactly what I intend to do.

Enjoy.

Jx

NB: All photos have been snapped on a Fujifilm X100T or iPhone 4s.