Everything happens for a reason.

I live by this, and I have to force myself to believe it even when I really don’t want to.

I am currently solo-traveling southeast Asia. I love saying that. I have solo-traveled before, but this is so different. This time I went without a plan, without hotels booked, without a flight home. This is a bit scarier than my usual travels. In the past, I have solo-traveled to Greece, and I have solo-traveled to Hawaii. Both of these trips were to volunteer at a hostel for 3-months through World Packers, so I had a set place to stay with a bed, food, and insurance. World Packers is a program that allows you to volunteer at places all over the world in exchange for accomodation and various benefits, and it is how I have managed to travel without having a large savings account.

I flew to Thailand on October 1st with one backpack and a dream. Haha not really but sort of. I had a World Packers job lined up in Bangkok, but I truly did not have anything scheduled following this. Once I got to Bangkok, I was safe for two weeks, but I knew I needed to start planning what I was going to do next. I was thankful that I came into my travels without any plans because in the first 1–2 days I learned what to do and what not to do. This helped me narrow down my travels, and I started my planning from there. As I am a very type-A person, this was a little hard for me to process, but I knew that everything was going to happen for a reason and it would all work out in the end.

One of the main reasons that I chose to come to southeast Asia was because I have had a dream of becoming a yoga teacher since I graduated high school. I knew that there was an incredible yoga retreat in Bali, and I made it a goal of mine these past few months to make it there. While I was living in Hawaii, I had heard so many positive remarks about Thailand, so I thought it would be perfect to travel there next. Additionally, I would be right near Bali, Indonesia! Everything started to fall in place, my mother gave me all of the reassurance & confidence in the world, and I booked a one-way ticket to Thailand. I also booked a 25-day yoga retreat in a mansion in Bali for later in the year, and I never looked back!

This lifestyle is fun, spontaneous, and rewarding. I applied to many different World Packers over the past two weeks, and I was going to base the rest of my travels until my yoga retreat on where I got accepted. I was planning on traveling the southern part of Thailand until my visa ran out at the end of this month either way, but I was accepted to a position at a hostel on the beach. I couldn’t be more excited for this, and I truly felt like the stars were aligning here! My thought process following this was to spend November in Bali to prepare for my yoga training. There was one oppurtunity in particular that I have been eyeing since August in Bali that I dreamed of doing. It was a wellness retreat with yoga, massages, meditation, and more. This seemed too good to be true and long story short, it was. I actually got accepted to it this morning, and I was so happy; however, I quickly realized that they only had openings in December, and I already had my yoga retreat scheduled for then. This is when I started to write this article because I sat down, released a major sigh, and had to convince myself that everything happens for a reason.

As I pondered over that thought, I asked myself, “well, what is the reason then,” and I think I have slowly been unfolding one. To bring this story full circle, one of the first people that I met at my hostel in Bangkok told me that her favorite country is Vietnam. I was intrigued because I did not know much about vietnam, and I also did not plan to travel there on this trip. Over a beer & some spicy Indian food, she had me fully convinced. She taught me about the Ha Giang Loop, which is a circular route in the norhtern part of Vietnam that takes 3–4 days to complete on scooters with the most beautiful views. I knew that I needed to make sure I experienced this before I went back home. Suddenly the answer seemed so clear. I needed to spend the next month in Vietnam before my yoga retreat.

This may sound crazy to some, but I want to see as many countries as possible while I am here. Before I was thinking about spending 2 months in Indonesia, but I realized that would not make much sense if I have other places I need to see. This is the rationalization that took place in my mind. I quickly logged into World Packers, and I started applying to work-exchange opportunities in Vietnam. I have already found another one that I am obsessing over, so I really hope that this one works out. If it does or when it does, I can confidently state that everything does happen for a reason.

As we are all doing this life for the first time it is so important to have grace. It is so important to trust that what is happening in your life is for a purpose! I love the idea that each step of your life is a stepping stone on your personal yellow-brick road, or it is a beautiful chapter in your unique novel. This makes life exciting, and it makes the hard times make more sense. Without those turns or plot-twists, your road/novel would be quite boring. If you made it to the end, take a deep breath, and trust that your story book will make sense one day because everything happens for a reason.