How I turned my holiday daydreams into reality

Holidays are always a time for dreaming. Imagining what life could be like if you lived somewhere else or your job was completely different... 

When I was in my early 30's I used to take long weekend trips to Morocco to go surfing and do yoga on the beach. 

It was very far away from life in the cold and rain of the UK, not just because of the warm, dry weather, but because life itself was very different. 

As I sat in my office staring out at the rain I knew that my English yoga teacher was taking another group of students around Morocco, introducing them to the best mint tea café, showing them how to negotiate a bargain in the souk, and carefully guiding them through another yoga sequence as the sun set over the castle in Essaouira. 

Or dishing out fresh aloe vera to deal with the aftermath of too much time under the African sun, or the rigours of their first hammam.  

I would think about the Moroccan surfers teaching another group about safety in the sea and watching them crash into the surf time after time. 

Their life went on and they knew nothing about my life back in the UK other than the occasional exchange of stories over lunch on the beach between lessons. 

The experience made me acutely aware that there was a whole other way of life going on just a few hours away by plane. 

However, this idea that there was life outside of my corporate office bubble came crashing in one day when I ended up in the ER with a colleague who had passed out at work (she was fine, long hours, lack of food, too much stress).

As I waited for her to get some tests, I watched the doctors and nurses running around with purpose, the reception staff answering the same questions over and over, and the slow pace of the cleaning lady who knew she had to be there for 8 hours regardless of what emergencies came and went during her shift. 

I came to the realisation that I didn't have to spend the rest of my working life in an office. Now, you're maybe thinking "duh!", obviously, Lesley. But for me, it was all I had really known since leaving university, looking for a career that would bring me the financial security I didn't have as a teenager. 

My plan to move to Spain slowly came together after that. I took a few years to figure out the "how" but the idea of living somewhere warm and sunny that didn't involve a commute or office job wouldn't go away.

If you've been following my progress for a while you will know I eventually made it. 

I'm in Fuerteventura, a stone's throw from Morocco but with an easier language and more familiar culture! I spend a few hours a day in my office, but it has a balcony and a view of the sea. 

I made it happen because I had that early realisation, I had a dream and I made a plan. 

I want the same thing for you.

What do you need to move towards your dream life?

A different perspective? More confidence? Removal of obstacles and risks?

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