Cutting Loose

It can be done. You just need helluva lot of courage, is all!  Sohail Abid, who is touring Pakistan on a motorcycle shows us how. Read on to discover if you have it in you to follow suit.

Why I’m Selling Everything I Own

Ibn Battuta intended to be a judge. After studying Islamic law, he decided to perform Hajj (before presumably taking up ‘the job’). Makkah was far away from his homeland, Morocco, and the journey was going to take him more than a year. After 16 months he did reach Makkah but was so fascinated by the places he visited and the sites he saw during the journey that he decided to become a traveler for life and vowed ‘never to travel any road a second time.’

I’m no Ibn Battuta but our stories are kinda similar. Two years ago, I took a month out of my busy life to travel across Punjab on my motorbike. “30 days, 30 cities, 5000km, one hell of a journey,” that’s how I summarize it now. But I feel like it was just a glimpse of the heights and depths of the places I visited and the people I met. I now want to “live” at places, not just travel through.

You have probably got an idea why this post is being written but hold that thought, there’s more.

I make my living writing computer software for people/companies from around the globe; been doing so for the past 7 years since my graduation, though a little differently. I quit my day job around 4 years ago to freelance full-time, after feeling that working 9-6 is not my thing. Generally, it takes your two to three hours a day to make more than the regular day-job (which means, you can work for a few days a month and still make the same). I could use the free time doing things I’m passionate about, I thought. Studying the folklore of my homeland and figuring out how it relates to the people at present, for instance, or writing that second novel of mine.

Why not merge these two, I have been wondering. You can’t just sit around thinking about the amazing things you can do. You have to take the step. That’s what I’m doing. I’ve decided to become a full-time traveler who sometimes does freelance work.

I’m going to live in one region for around a month or two and then move to the next. The idea is to travel and earn the living on the go. (Internet + Freelancing, FTW).

And that’s why I’m selling everything I own.