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Have you recently thought that you need to change your life? Millennials are constantly striving to have a more purposeful life and look for ways to live a better life. In this post we share our own experience and motivation for making a radical change to our lives. We also share our survey results of over 250 millennials to illustrate why most of us want to improve our life and what’s holding us back. We also share how many millennials are taking their lives in their own hands and are leading a more purposeful life

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Have you recently thought that you need to change your life? Millennials are constantly striving to have a more purposeful life and look for ways to live a better life. In this post we share our own experience and motivation for making a radical change to our lives. We also reveal the survey results of over 250 millennials illustrating how they take their lives in their own hands and are leading a more purposeful life.

Our time is precious to not change our life

Recently we came across a post that was talking about the notion of time. The main message was as follows. The most precious asset we have in life is time. Time is constantly flowing, it can’t be repeated, and it can never be returned once it is used.

Our time is limited and we have to spend it wisely – be it in our spare time, our relationships, and the work we do. 

When we sign an employment contract, we enter a deal with our employer in which we trade our time for money. And we better make sure it’s a good deal.

That the work we choose is worth our time beyond money. That it brings us pleasure, self-development, and an enjoyable social environment.

And yet, even if we achieve all these things or the goals that we set for ourselves, we might still find ourselves at times feeling overwhelmed or longing for a change.

Raise your hand if escaping your 9-5 schedule has ever crossed your mind.

Don’t be shy, no judgement here!

Raise it higher if you have been secretly dreaming about being free of all obligations, even if it’s just for a little while. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Everybody has been there!

It is time to change your life now. 

Taking a career break to change your life

Many companies nowadays are offering their employees the opportunity to take some much needed time off work to recharge their batteries. Read our Sabbatical guide to find out why companies offer this and how you can check if you are eligible. 

Most organizations require their staff to meet certain criteria to qualify for a sabbatical period. Mostly, they will ask for a certain amount of years with the company before the leave and will set a fix limit for the time off period. Yet, there are always options to negotiate. Read here how Tomer got an 18 months sabbatical. Also, a suitable timing for pausing the job might require some discussion. In short, getting a sabbatical approved takes planning, organization, and convincing.

Before taking a sabbatical, there are several things you need to consider such as the timing and promotional options. We wrote a post about the 5 things you should know before taking a sabbatical, which we recommend you read before applying for a sabbatical. 

In case the terms of a sabbatical don’t apply to you or are not to your satisfaction, there is always the option of taking a leap and leaving your job for good.

Of course this might be easier said than done and a big, if not impossible, step for many. 

Anastasia took that leap and quit her job to travel the world. She shares her experience and explains what it’s like to quit your job and travel the world in another post. 

There is no right time for a change

We had been dreaming about going on an around-the-world-trip for quite some years – for all kinds of reasons. After some time of postponing, we realised at some point that for us the fear of not going was higher than the fear of going.

Looking back at our life and regretting not having realised our life dream was a risk we were not willing to take. Plus, we increasingly felt unfulfilled with our 9-5 x5 days routines and felt like we needed to take some time to review our priorities and expectations for our future.

How many people feel that they need a break from routine life?

We were curious to find out how many people felt similar as us. For this reason we asked over 250 working millennials exactly this question. The result was overwhelming. 87% of all respondents stated that they have been thinking lately about taking a break from their daily lives, with over 2/3 of respondents feeling that way for over 6 months. 

Desire to take a break

The underlying motivation or reasons for this desire varied, but most commonly people stated that they longed for an adventure (71%) or felt not satisfied with their routine life (42%).

Almost 90% of all survey respondents indicated that they can imagine to trade their daily routine for going traveling for longer than 3 months.

Reasons to take a break

What is holding millennials back from changing their lives?

What are obstacles that keep an adventure seeker strapped to their office chair? The survey revealed three main reasons: 

  1. Lack of money
  2. Doubt about the right timing
  3. Fear of losing career opportunities 
Obstacles to take a break

Of course all of the three reasons above can mean very plausible obstacles for many. All three have been the reason for us why it took us several years until we turned our dream of traveling the world into reality 5 months ago.

We could come up with some philosophical explanation on why these three items should not be seen as barriers. However, we don’t want to play down these reasons because we have experienced that they can pose serious road blocks – at least mentally. 

We need to talk about the number one reason that is holding people back – money

Money is on the mind of every traveller and is an inevitable item to be tackled in preparation to travel long-term. We have asked many travellers we have met throughout our trip on how they finance their travels and we would like to summarise the most common sources of income long-term travellers mentioned.

Living off savings to change your life

Most travellers have either created a saving plan for their travellers well ahead of the trip or turned the savings they made for an apartment, house, or vehicle into their travel budget. 

Working online in their profession – freelancing

The second largest source of income for travellers is taking up jobs in the destinations they are travelling to (office jobs, hospitality, and alike) or offering their services as remote freelancers. Most people who choose this type of work had previous experience in this field of work before.

Passive income from rent back at home / selling house

A few people are able to live off income they make from renting out or selling property.

Creating a new business 

A couple of travellers are becoming entrepreneurs and starting a new business on the road. Examples of such are opening a marketing or design agency, creating a successful blog, or becoming social media influencers.

One thing we learnt is that there is not ONE way to make it, but there is always A way. You have to figure out which option(s) are most suitable for you and then go for it with all your determination. 

Do you feel like this article is speaking to you? Share your story by taking a short questionnaire at generationnomads.com/survey or write us an email on hello@generationnomads.com. We are currently working on our first book (a big deal for us!) and we would love to have you in it!