Taking a break to find yourself — radical mindfulness everyone should try at least once

I am on a dirt road in the middle of northern Italy, it’s the middle of nowhere, its pitch black, there are mosquitos literally ravishing my body in ways I can’t comprehend and I am waiting, waiting, waiting for people I have never met to pick me up.

This is safe right? It’s normal to trust people you have never met. It’s normal to book a flight to Italy to a place you have never heard of, to meet people you have never spoken to, to work on a project you care passionately about with five days notice. You will be trusting the advice of strangers, based on finding them in a google search and deciding within 10 minutes this was the best thing you would do this week. And it wasn’t expensive — the flight was €40.

It was by far, the smartest thing I had done that week and one of the many most amazing decisions and experiences I have had over the last six months on my walkabout.