Paradise Island to the Deserted Life And Back- Gints Gailis

Who would say no when it comes to going to a dream paradise island and start a new life in their early twenties and just give up all for this adventure? That’s what I did. I left everything behind – my work, my school, my apartment, friends. I packed my backpack and left for good. Boy! I tell you it was good, careless. It was a great feeling of escaping this “corporate world” I was wrapped into for way too long.

Summer vibes, beach, sun, palm trees, cheap booze, music, new friends, new life no strings attached. Ah! Can you imagine this?

There  I was 7 months after my journey, standing in a rainy and cold city with nothing in my pocket, not even a phone. All my life was in my backpack – I mean my summer clothes. I had no place to go, no work  and enormous debts that was just bugging me nonstop.

Yesterday, I was in paradise island walking in shorts and carelessly sipping rum and hanging around with strangers  I meet for the last time. Today, I am figuring out how to gather cash for bus ticket.

That’s how my life turned around and forced me to leave paradise island and return. Thank God! I managed to go deeper in debt to get away from paradise island, and find out what reality meant. And now I had one question in front of me- What to do with this situation where I didn’t see any exit?

From this course of life I learnt a lot about life. Few of those lessons being:

First lesson learned  : Good life comes with a cost – and this cost should not be debt.

Second lesson learned : If you don’t follow the first rule, it is going be bad for you and it will catch up with you.

Lesson three : Work hard!

So not to mention I was completely mentally crushed and I also had to figure out what to do, and fast!

So you all probably wait for what is the magic key how did I solve it. Well, it is simple I got a job- not well paid, tough one and something I didn’t like but it was the first job I found and I took it. Besides that it was not legal so there was no guarantee. I had to sleep on the couch at my friend’s house for the next 2 month. I worked day and night and also found a second job and at one point even a third job. No fun, no going out nothing just sleep, eat and work. I even had no specific schedule, I was just going and working once I was called. Sometimes I slept for 3-6 hours and  sometimes did not get sleep for 2 days in a row.

But in one year I made it! I turned my life around. Not sure what would be the best way of- How to call it!  I can now afford to work fewer hours, go to school, have time with my girlfriend, enjoy my hobbies and even travel a couple of times an year.

Do I regret my past decisions? No, I am here because of that. Sometimes life gives us lessons we just need to learn and if we learn we get rewarded!

Learn your lessons and do not give up 🙂

GINTS GAILIS