A few days ago I shut up shop. Packed up everything I own. Moved out of my flat. Quit my job. Booked a flight. And left the country. With nothing (other than family & friends) to return to.

It doesn’t seem like that big a deal these days. To leave everything behind and flee to find yourself. It feels almost clichéd. It probably is, but I don’t have a problem with that. I’ve always erred on the cheesier side of life (overlooking a penchant for dark techno raves).

Things conspired to lead me to this point. I’d been restless for a long time professionally. I also knew I had some business I needed to deal with internally. Call it the inner work if you like, I often do. There was, as always is in these situations, a ‘defining moment’. Before I knew it, I was taking a massive left turn and flipping life on its head. It took a while to get used to the new normal, and I won’t play down the pain it caused. I went to some pretty dark places as I let go of the old me and accepted where I’d ended up – suffice to say starting over in my late 30s was NOT the plan. But I see now those moments were all part of getting here. You have to get uncomfortable to rock the boat. No one ever made serious progress whilst being comfortable. Discomfort was the only choice.

But. I struggled to face an un-ending stretch of nothingness. Which, in my darkest moments was all I could see. There were days I literally did not get out of bed. Change is hard. Things not working out as planned, is hard. Letting go of everything is quite difficult as it turns out.

So, to appease my inner control freak and prevent further spiralling I took action.

I covered my flat in post-it notes. Those who have worked with me know I’m a fan of the colourful sticky squares, regularly wallpapering meeting rooms. I built a Kanban for my life: to do, doing, done. Categorising all the things I had ever wanted to do or achieve. Then I set about making them happen, be they large or small.

I decided to pick up learning German again. I’d always loved Germany. I spent a year there during my degree and my godson is German. One of my lifegoals is to hold a fluent conversation with him before he learns English. I have a year until the deadline is up!

I stepped up my fitness. No, I didn’t address some serious fitness goals as was suggested by a friend. I train for life, not for competitions. But I got healthier. Ate better. Ran. Lifted. Got stronger and felt better in my head as well as my body as a result.

I bought a stack of books so I could read up on all the subjects that I’d never got around to learning about. Physics. Philosophy. Enlightenment. With no intention, other than to better round myself off.

I got serious about my morning routine. Which, at some points lasted over 2 hours (how I could fit this in before a day’s work was of constant wonder). Meditation had come and gone during the past few years since I discovered it. But this was the cornerstone of my getting through a tough time. Journaling. Burning incense. Meditation. Yoga. Gratitude journaling. Setting intention. They all set me up for the best possible day.

I signed up for a course with my favourite marketing author. My therapist laughed out loud at this. Apparently typical of my personality type. After 15 years I needed to reassess my relationship with marketing. What the modern marketing game means to me and where I fit. Were we done even?

And finally, I planned a trip. I had a few commitments already in the diary, but after a lounge-floor post-it session a loose plan started to emerge. I decided that there was nowhere better to be in the world in summer than Europe. And I had a long bucket list of places to visit. So, I booked a flight. To Athens. I made a few days’ worth of plans and then I stopped. I like to travel but to date my trips had all been a week or two here and there, tightly scheduled into an excel spreadsheet. This time I was determined to only plan a week ahead at a time.

And so, here I am. A few days in. Sat on a balcony on a Greek island overlooking a beautiful sunset to the soundtrack of geckos singing loudly into the balmy evening. With just a couple of nights booked at this pension. They don’t know how long I’m staying and neither do I. I have a rough outline of where I want to go this summer. I have to meet some friends in Ibiza at some point, so we’ll see where I end up flying in from.

So that’s the plan. When life doesn’t go to plan, make a new one. Take some time to accept things have changed. Embrace the opportunity that life has given you, even if you didn’t choose it. And move on. Know and trust that in doing so you are heading for happier days. You will become a better version of you as a result. It won’t be easy. Some days it will be hard. But the sun will rise every day. As can you.