Every
person has a story and so I started this blog to capture mine.
My
name is Sarah, I'm 20 years old, I grew up in Essex where I spent my
childhood in fear of my step-dad who decided he hated me. I'm one of
six and we're an exceptionally dysfunctional family to say the least.
I left home at 16 and moved in with my eldest sister where I juggled
college with helping to bring up her beautiful boy. I haven't had
contact with her, or with my second eldest sister, in a long, long
time, and I don't know if we ever will.
I
gave uni a first attempt in 2011 with a shot at a BA in Sociology and
Philosophy at York. Not long into first year things got bad- break
ups, drugs, death, grief, anxiety- I was issued with a leave on
“compassionate grounds”. My mum pretty much declared me a failure
at this point. 2012 I decided to pack up and leave, got myself TEFL
qualified, and ventured over to Vietnam where I lived and taught
English for 5 months. I was only 19 at this point. I didn't yet
realise that travel could be more than an escape, it could be a way
of life.
I
came back to Essex and moved in with my best friend, who just
happened to be my eldest sisters ex-boyfriends mother. She's an
amazing woman, a very important figure in my life. I picked up my old
college job at McDonald's which started its work on destroying my
soul and could only focus on getting myself back to university. The
summer before University started (2013 June, July, August and first
two weeks of September) I spent in Italy teaching English in
children’s summer camps. I stayed in various Italian host families,
which was perhaps the most enjoyable part of camp- I got to see what
it's really like, family life. A mum and dad under one roof. Never
seen my own folks, I think I was still in the womb when the divorce
went through.
The
other most enjoyable part of camp was the time off between camps. I
had about a month of blissful solo travel around the country.
Somewhere in the middle I met my man I'm with today, just 8 months
on. He flew over to England to come visit me, and he's probably my
favourite person. It's still early stages... but I've got a good
feeling about us. He doesn't seem to mind either that I'm bat shit
crazy, which helps.
Gave
uni it's second attempt not long after returning from Italy,
enrolling in a BA in Social and Political Sciences at the same
university as attempt no.1. I moved in with friends who were now in
their final year soon to graduate. That was weird for me, starting
over in first year. A few months later, as the desire to be abroad
increased, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, a condition which
causes widespread muscular pain. I figured if I'm going to wake up
every day in mind-numbing pain and go to bed feeling the same way, I
might as well be somewhere I really want to be. Somewhere I've chosen
to be not just what I think is expected from me. In March 2014 I left
Uni and accepted a position teaching English at a language school in
The Maldives.
This
time round my mum was real sweet about my decision. We are much
closer now, me and my step-dad too. Of course we'll never be a
totally normal family, but who is? I've been living in Malé,
the capital of Maldives, for about 3 weeks now and can't wait to
start blogging about my experiences thus far. I just thought I'd
start with a little background info so anyone reading can understand
me and my story a little bit better.
“Your
time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of
other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s
opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the
courage to follow your heart and intuition. Everything else is secondary.” –
Steve Jobs