Yesterday, a lady slid into my DMs on Threads….

She shared how ready she was to quit her job and move out of the US. But —

She wants OUT.

And I understood her urgency, immediately.

I know what it feels like to become so tired of your current reality that you don’t want to hear another person tell you to wait, be patient, save for another two years, make the “responsible” choice.

Sometimes you’re just DONE, because you have nothing more to give the system.

You just want to quit the job, sell your shit, buy the ticket and figure it out somewhere else.

I get it!

I left six years ago and have been slowly unpacking what that decision has taught me about creating a life of freedom, navigating survival mode and starting over from scratch—both the beautiful parts and the realities no one prepares you for.

So, I will probably always be that person telling others that YES, you can leave if you feel called to. YES, you can start over somewhere else. YES, there are other ways to live besides the life you’ve always known.

But I also know what happens when you move abroad with savings and the money starts running out. And you plunge deeper into survival mode in a foreign country where you can’t speak the local language, or find local employment.

So, while I’m never going to tell someone to abandon their dream of moving abroad because it feels risky, I’m also not going to romanticize what happens when you get on that plane without any idea of how you’re going to financially support yourself long term.

I’m not saying don’t take the risk. I’m saying give yourself the best possible chance of making it work… long-term.

So, before you quit your job, sell all your shit and buy that one-way ticket, here’s where I suggest you start…

Before you choose the country, figure out how much time your money can buy you.

When people decide they want to move abroad, one of the first questions is usually:

Where should I go?

Mexico?

Vietnam?

Thailand?

Portugal?

Panama?

Belize?

They’re most likely looking at trending destinations on social media…

But before you even begin looking at countries, I suggest you sit down and look at the money.

Ask yourself:

How much money do I ACTUALLY have? And by actually, I mean after everything.

After you sell whatever you’re selling. After you payoff debt. After taxes and penalties. After flights. After Visa costs. After all the little expenses that come with dismantling one life and setting up another.

How much money will you actually have in your possession? $10k, $20k, $30k+ ..etc

When you have enough clarity around this number, I’d then ask…..

How much TIME can this money buy me?

Because that’s really what your savings are buying you…..TIME.

For example, $20,000 can buy you very different amounts of time depending on where you go.

That was actually part of the conversation I had with the lady.

She had previously been considering Jamaica.

I love Jamaica. It was the first country my husband and I landed in after leaving the United States. But Jamaica is EXPENSIVE.

The amount of money that might give you a few months of comfortable living in Jamaica could potentially sustain you considerably longer somewhere like Vietnam or Ecuador.

That’s an important distinction to make.

The reality is….the more money you have, the more freedom and flexibility you have when choosing where to go. Let your finances help point you in a direction.

If you’re leaving without a steady income, you want to choose somewhere your money will stretch far enough to give you time to settle in, and figure out how you’re going to rebuild your new life.

You don’t want to arrive somewhere beautiful, and immediately start panicking about money.

Trust me.

It’s NOT FUN!

Look at what it will ACTUALLY cost you to live there.

(After reading this article, You can watch this cost of living youtube video I created documenting our living expenses in Cuenca, Ecuador)

Once you have a few countries in mind, start doing the math. Calculate everything: Rent. Food. Transportation. Flights. Visa fees. Residency fees. Health insurance or healthcare. Apartment deposits. Lawyer fees if you plan to use one for immigration.

And leave room in your budget for all the unexpected costs you cannot necessarily anticipate.

Then look at your savings and ask yourself:

If I had ZERO income coming in, how long could I realistically live here?

Six months?

A year?

Two years?

That number matters more than you know.

Because unfortunately, moving abroad is the easiest part of the journey. Sustaining your new life abroad is where the real challenge begins, especially when life happens and unexpected costs come up.

If you need help figuring out whether you can actually afford your move, my Move Abroad With Ease Workbook helps you calculate your one-time moving costs, build a realistic monthly budget and determine how long your savings can sustain you without income. It also helps you identify financial gaps, prepare a backup plan and turn your dream of moving abroad into a solid practical plan you can confidently act on.

Because you don’t just want to move abroad. What you actually want to do is build a life abroad that you can actually sustain. That should be central to your plan.

Move Abroad With Ease Workbook

Which brings me to the part nobody wants to think about…

What happens when the savings run out?

When my husband and I left the United States, we had about $10,000 saved. At the time, we thought it would be OKAY’ish, especially if we lived beneath our means for a few months. We figured we would have about 6-7 months runway money to set ourselves up and find remote job gigs..etc etc.

Then we left, and within three and a half months, life happened and that money was basically gone.

That experience taught me A LOT.

When you’re sitting in America dreaming about moving abroad, you’re usually hyper fixated on how much money you need to LEAVE.

The flight. The apartment. The visa. The initial savings.

But you also need to think about how you’re going to STAY. And FOR HOW LONG.

Savings can carry you for a while. But if nothing is coming in to replace what’s going out, eventually the savings run out.

So I would think very seriously about income before leaving.

Can you take your current job with you?

Can you find remote work?

Can you freelance?

Do you have a skill you can offer online?

Can you consult?

Can you build something before you go?

Do you have investment income?

A digital business?

Some other source of recurring income?

I don’t believe that you need to have every single detail figured out before you take the leap. That can lead to procrastination and prolonging their entire move, especially if you’re trying to leave ASAP.

But YOU NEED TO HAVE a solid plan for how you’re going to support yourself once the savings start dwindling.

Scrambling to figure out how to make money, while watching your savings disappear in a foreign country is a different kind of pressure I don’t wish on my worst enemy. It can be hell. Like there’s a literal fire underneath your ass…

This is why I created Laptop Money: Your Financial Guide to Location Independence. It’s not just a long list of ways to make money online that leaves you wondering where to begin. My newly updated guide, helps you identify the skills you already have, develop the ones you need, turn them into remote work, freelance offers or income-producing assets.

It also helps you put together a focused 90-day plan so you can stop researching and start putting what you’ve learned into practice.

Laptop Money

Now, there’s another part of this conversation that I think is equally important.

The lady I was talking to today eventually said something that really stood out to me.

She said:

Logically, it may not make any sense to move, just yet. To sell your house. Leave your life behind and head into the unknown. But deep down, you know your spirit is compelling you to go, even if your logical mind cannot explain why.

Sometimes, your intense desire to move abroad could be coming from the part of you that is deeply yearning for healing; for space to breathe, exhale, regroup, regulate your nervous system and reimagine what your life could look like.

You’re TIRED. Burnt out. Done with your job. Done with your city. Done with the country. Completely done with your old life.

Your soul may be screaming…

I JUST CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE.

I need to get out of here, ASAP.

If this is you, then I don’t think that feeling should be ignored. But, I also don’t think it should automatically be obeyed.

The “urgency” is trying to tell you something, but sometimes, you need to sit still enough to be able to truly discern what it’s trying to communicate.

Are you really being called to sell everything, quit your job and get on a plane?

Or perhaps, do you just need a break?

Is this chapter of your life genuinely over, or ready to be put on an indefinite pause?

OR…

Maybe you need a change of environment.

Maybe what you really hate is your job, or your city, not your country.

Maybe you need three weeks somewhere beautiful to remember who you are, before deciding what to do with the rest of your life.

This is why I recommend a period of discernment.

Take some time off if you can. Go somewhere quiet. Get away from your normal environment. Journal. Pray. Contemplate. Meditate. Ask God/Source for guidance.

And write everything down. The dream. The fear. The numbers. The plan. The worst-case scenario. The best-case scenario. What you’re running from. What you’re hoping to find.

Sometimes getting everything out of your head and onto paper allows you to see what’s actually going on inside you.

And if, after sitting with all of it, you realize that moving abroad is something you genuinely want to explore, then it’s time to start turning that desire into a real plan.

That’s exactly why I created my complete Design Your Escape Guidance Bundle

It’s not just for people who have already decided where they’re going. It’s also for those of you who know you want something different, but have no idea where, or how, to begin.

The bundle will help you choose a country that genuinely fits the life you want, research the realities of living there, calculate what the move will actually cost, prepare for the logistics of leaving and create a plan for sustaining yourself once you arrive.

It includes my Complete Research Guide to Moving & Living Abroad, the Move Abroad With Ease Workbook, Laptop Money: Your Financial Guide to Location Independence, and a bonus step-by-step guide to simplifying the entire process.

It takes courage to leave, but courage alone isn’t enough. You also need clarity about why you’re leaving, wisdom about where you’re going, and a practical plan for making your new life work.

Design Your Escape Bundle

Before You Go…

You don’t have to make the decision today.

You don’t have to sell everything, quit your job and get on a plane tomorrow.

But please don’t ignore the part of you that knows that something about your life needs to change. Give yourself the time and space to figure out what that change is. And whatever the answer is, I hope you give yourself permission to listen.

Your logical mind may not understand it yet. But your spirit knows exactly what you need.

I’ll leave you with a playlist from our search for a home in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Subscribe now

Hey, I’m Judith—writer, filmmaker and creative life guide behind The Creative Life Path.

Over here, I write for the unconventional souls who know they’re meant to build a different kind of life.

Through essays, stories, reflections and practical life advice, I explore reinvention, creative living, spirituality, and life beyond borders — and what it means to consciously design a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are, not who the world expects you to become.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📞 Book a 1:1 Clarity Call, and let’s talk through your desire to move abroad, the life transition you’re navigating and what your next chapter could realistically look like

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

📬 Join The Creative Life Path for thoughtful essays on life beyond borders, creative living, reinvention, and the courage to build a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

☕ If this work has inspired, encouraged, or supported you in some way, you can buy me a coffee and help me continue creating thoughtful essays and stories like this one.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

On August 8th, I woke up from an odd dream…

In the dream, I saw a farmer lying on his land, in a pile of manure… yeah, shit.

The earth was coated in rich, black, moist soil. Layers of dark, mushy dark manure covered the entire surface of the land. And right in the middle of it all, the farmer lay helplessly on his back, facing the sky and crying.

He looked completely defeated by the pile of shit he was lying in.

He had no crops on his land, no harvest, no bounty…..just layers and layers, and piles and piles, of shit.

The farmer looked exhausted. Worn out. Overwhelmed.

He didn’t know what to do.

So he just lay there, crying about the condition of his land.

Then out of nowhere, a friend of mine who had died nearly 13 years ago, appeared in the dream.

In that very moment, I knew he had appeared as a “cosmic agent”… as the words simultaneously dropped in my spirit.

Edmund had died in a car accident over a decade ago, but there he stood before me, fully alive. His skin, smooth, dark, rich, and glowing.

He looked healthy, strong, fit and ALIVE.

He appeared shirtless, wearing only shorts and a pair of farm boots that rose all the way to his knees. And in his hands, he held a shovel.

Instantly, I understood that he had appeared to teach the farmer (who I later realized was me), about turning “dead material” into something living.

The irony was profound: the dead had returned to teach the living how to transmute dead matter into new life.

The juxtaposition was nothing short of poetic. I sat up in my bed and marvelled at the precision of my subconscious mind. Indeed, dreams are the poetry of the subconscious mind.

You and I are THE FARMER.

As I began piecing the dream together, I understood that it carried a profound message for me. But I also knew the message wasn’t only for me.

This message is for EVERYONE who feels like they’ve been through some real shit! And yet, when they look around at their lives, feel as though they have nothing tangible to show for all the shit they’ve been through.

Some of us have been going through shit for the past few years.

Some of us have been going through it for a decade, or longer.

Some us feel like we’re always going through some shit…because it’s always one thing or another.

When we look around at our lives, all we see are the piles of shit we’ve been through….relics from the things we’ve survived: The pain. The grief. The loss. The loneliness. The depression. The despair. The betrayals. The dreams that we buried prematurely. The relationships that ended. The years we believe we lost.

But when we look at the external evidence of our lives, it doesn’t always feel like it. It feels like there’s nothing to show for all the shit that we’ve been through.

No crops. No fruit. No harvest.

Just a bare field covered in shit.

We look at the field of our lives and see nothing but the shit we’ve been through. So we lie in it. Helplessly crying, replaying the past over and over again, getting consumed by it.

We stare at the sky, and cry out:

Oh, God! Why did I have to go through this? What was all of this shit for?

But what if all the shit you’ve been sitting in is the very compost needed to grow something beautiful that could yield an abundant harvest?

Have you ever thought about it that way?

Your Shit Requires Transmutation

Perhaps the reason we feel like we have nothing to show for everything we’ve been through is because we’re just sitting in our shit, letting it rot, instead of finding ways to transmute it into something else.

But we don’t know when or where to begin, or how to transform it into something we can eventually harvest from.

When we look at the pain we’ve endured, we don’t always see its value. We lament. We cry. We pray. We complain. We sit in it, till it becomes deeply intertwined with our identities.

But what if the value of our experience doesn’t reside in the pain itself, but in what the pain can become?

Perhaps, it can become a piece of art. a poem. a film. a youtube video. a story.
a book. a talk. a resource. a body of wisdom that helps guide another soul.

Everything we experience gives us raw material, but we still have to decide what we’re going to do with it.

The material must be worked; turned over, broken down, digested, integrated,
transmuted, given somewhere to go, and something to become.

So instead of continuing to sit helplessly in your shit, perhaps it’s time to stand up and examine the pile; sift through it, sort through it, ask what it has taught you, and decide what you want to make from it.

Your shit may be raw material, but the raw material will not transmute itself. You’ve got to get to work!

How I’m Transmuting my shit in this season of my life.

I’ve been through some shit that has not been easy on my soul.

The biggest was surviving a deep depression and existential crisis, a season when I no longer wanted to be alive because I was drowning in sorrow. Lost. Confused. Profoundly lonely.

But that season also sent me searching, for answers about life, God, existence, the Universe, my purpose and my mission.

I quit the church.
I went to seminary.
I found sacred plant medicine.
I found solace in writing and intellectual companionship in books.
I moved to a monastic community on a farm.
I started a business.
I closed that business.
I left the United States and moved to Ecuador.
I ran out of money there.

I’ve rebuilt myself and my life, from scratch, more than once —and made it through seasons I never thought I would survive.

Basically, I’ve been sitting on a whole lot of enriching and shitty experiences.

But over the past few years, I’ve been metabolizing them, slowly. Digging through the pain, extracting the lessons and transmuting the wisdom into words, images and resources that might be helpful to someone else.

I’m done merely sitting in my shit. I’m in a season of active and intentional alchemy. Transmuting my shit into something useful outside of me.

I’ve been turning my lived experiences into videos on YouTube.

I’ve been sharing the insights I’ve gained from my life experiences daily on Threads.

I’m writing here on Substack, sharing more freely and generously about what it really takes to leave the life you know, re-build yourself and attempt to create the life you dream about.

I’ve turned everything I learned from leaving the United States, running out of money abroad and rebuilding my life and income from scratch, into digital guides for people who want to move abroad and build a location independent life — without spending hundreds of hours researching or making the same mistakes I made.

And I can feel that this is only the beginning: of more creativity, more writing,
more art, more medicine, more guidance, and more life growing from all the shitty things I’ve experienced.

It turns out, none of our experiences have to be wasted, at all. They can all become raw material from which something new and beautiful can grow.

I’ll leave you to sit with these Questions:

• What experiences have you lived through, even the painful or embarrassing ones?

• What did those experiences teach you?

• Could those lessons be transmuted into something creative, useful or healing?

• What is stopping you from sharing what you’ve learned with the people who may need it?

• What if you’re sitting on the very material that could become your art, your medicine, your service, or even your livelihood?

• What if part of the reason you feel creatively or financially stuck is that you haven’t transformed your raw material into something valuable that the world can receive—and pay you for?

Maybe it’s time to stop sitting in your shit—and start working it into the soil, so something new can grow from everything you’ve survived.

If this essay gave you something to sit with, subscribe to The Creative Life Path for more reflections on creativity, reinvention and turning lived experience into art, wisdom and medicine.

Subscribe now

Hey, I’m Judith—writer, filmmaker and creative guide behind The Creative Life Path.

Over here, I write for the unconventional souls who know they’re meant to build a different kind of life.

Through essays, stories, reflections and practical life advice, I explore reinvention, creative living, spirituality, and life beyond borders — and what it means to consciously design a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are, not who the world expects you to become.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📞 Book a 1:1 Clarity Call and let’s explore how you can transform what you’ve lived through into clarity, creative direction, and a meaningful next chapter.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

📬 Join The Creative Life Path for thoughtful essays on life beyond borders, creative living, reinvention, and the courage to build a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

☕ If this work has inspired, encouraged, or supported you in some way, you can buy me a coffee and help me continue creating thoughtful essays and stories like this one.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

The Creative Life Path is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

One of the biggest reasons I left the United States was the food.

I know it might sound a bit dramatic. But it’s TRUE!

During the last few years before I left, my relationship with food had become so unhealthy that I genuinely felt like I needed to change the country I was living in, to heal my relationship with food.

Years before I moved abroad, I’d begun what I can only describe as a deep spiritual and wellness journey.

I was going through a season of my life where I was questioning everything, my existence, my beliefs, my identity and my dietary choices, as well.

I went vegan for a while. I started paying closer attention to what I was putting into my body, and questioning many of the habits I’d simply been indulging in my whole life.

For the first time in my life, I was eating food straight from farm to table.

The food was fresh. Organic. Biodynamic. Straight from the earth.

There was also something deeply grounding and healing about walking through the garden, harvesting fresh herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and peppers with my own hands, and later eating them at the table.

The food felt alive. Filled with nutrients. And the entire process of watching the food go from seed to harvest felt sacred, magical, and even miraculous.

My experience on the farm completely changed my relationship with the earth and food.

I think it changed the trajectory of my life.

Returning to city life

After leaving the farm, we moved back to the city. Philadelphia.

Suddenly, almost everything we ate now came from a grocery store again. And I noticed a huge difference immediately.

The food I’d been eating on the farm felt VERY DIFFERENT to what I was buying from the grocery stores.

The food from the regular grocery stores felt lifeless, soulless, and sometimes even odorless. Imagine — A mango without a sweet smell. A hard tomato that seemed to have been 3d printed.

I’d also become more conscious of ingredients, chemicals, pesticides, processing, and all the harmful things that could potentially be hiding inside the food I consumed.

Duke and I started spending so much money at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Sprouts, trying to eat organic.

But it was unsustainable.

Eating the way we wanted to eat, felt increasingly inaccessible and unnecessarily expensive. Especially, since we found ourselves now living in a food desert.

And so slowly, with each passing day, my desire to take care of myself turned into extreme fear and anxiety around food.

I became terrified of food. Terrified of the hidden chemicals in my food. Terrified of ingredients I couldn’t pronounce. Afraid of falling sick.

Looking back, I can see that I’d developed an unhealthy obsession with eating “perfectly” because I wanted to be healthy…I wanted to do the right thing for my body.

But, what had begun as a desire to nourish myself slowly became another source of anxiety.

My relationship with food became very unhealthy. I lost a lot of weight. I was unable to eat without battling heavy negative emotions around food. My mental health suffered.

And for me, the saddest part was that — I had always been a huge foodie.

I LOVE food.

Food has always been a source of pleasure, curiosity, comfort, and connection for me. But I reached a point where eating no longer brought me joy.

All it gave me was — A LOT OF ANXIETY.

I knew something had to change

Eventually, I realized I couldn’t continue living that way.

For me, leaving America wasn’t only about adventure or seeing the world. It wasn’t simply about escaping the cold winters, lowering my cost of living, or experiencing another culture.

It was also about finding an environment where I could heal my relationship with food, my body, and my mind.

It was about saving my life!

That was one of the reasons South America called to me. I’d been to Ecuador before in 2017, on a class trip, and all I could remember was the freshness of the food and how great it felt to be on the land. So I chose to go back there.. this time with Duke.

Together, we had agreed that we wanted to live somewhere closer to nature. Somewhere fresh produce was abundant and affordable. Somewhere we could slow down and reconnect with the simple pleasures of life, like eating.

That desire eventually led us to Vilcabamba, a small town in the mountains of southern Ecuador where we lived for nearly 3 years.

How Ecuador changed my relationship with food

Living in Ecuador healed my relationship with food.

There was fresh produce everywhere. It was easy to find high quality fruits and vegetables at the local mercados.

Organic food was easier and more affordable for us to access. The local fruits and vegetables tasted more vibrant and alive. Shopping for food was a more colorful, vibrant and exciting experience.

It’s been everything I needed and more.

I no longer have intense negative emotions towards my food. I’m not even vegan anymore.

These days, I eat whatever I want. Of-course, still carrying a sense of awareness of what I’m putting into my body.

But I no longer punish myself mentally for eating “imperfectly”.

The unfortunate truth is — our global food systems are being hijacked by big corp. all over the world. You can’t escape pesticides and other questionable ingredients completely, even when you shop in local markets.

The most radical thing you can do is grow some of your own food. But that takes an enormous amount of time, resources, land, and patience. And honestly, not everyone is in the position to do that.

But when you can’t do that, it helps to live in a community where people are intentional about how they grow their food, and where fresh, nourishing food is easier to access.

I’ll be the first to admit — moving abroad didn’t magically resolve every fear or heal every part of me. But changing my environment gave me the space I needed to deepen my own healing journey.

I hope you land somewhere that heals a part of you that you didn’t even know needed healing.

I hope you land somewhere that is kind to your nervous system.

And I hope you find an environment that supports the person you’re trying to become.

That is one of the reasons I created the Design Your Escape Bundle.

Because I know firsthand that moving abroad isn’t just about choosing a trendy country and buying a plane ticket. It’s about intentionally choosing a place that supports your needs, your values, your well-being, and the life you’re trying to create.

Inside the bundle, I’ll help you research destinations beyond what you see on social media, create a realistic plan for your move, and explore ways to earn location-independent income so you can actually sustain your new life abroad.

If you’re ready to begin designing a life beyond the U.S., you can learn more about the bundle below.

Design Your Escape Guidance Bundle

Hey, I’m Judith—writer, filmmaker and creative guide behind The Creative Life Path.

Over here, I write for the unconventional souls who know they’re meant to build a different kind of life.

Through essays, stories, reflections and practical life advice, I explore reinvention, creative living, life beyond borders, and what it means to consciously design a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are—not who the world expects you to become.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📞 Book a 1:1 clarity call and we’ll dive into your goals—whether that’s moving abroad, building online income, or shaping your creative lifestyle.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

📬 Join The Creative Life Path for thoughtful essays on life beyond borders, creative living, reinvention, and the courage to build a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

☕ If this work has inspired, encouraged, or supported you in some way, you can buy me a coffee and help me continue creating thoughtful essays and stories like this one.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

(Beyond Borders: Field Notes is a monthly collection of observations, creative discoveries, quiet moments, and lessons I’m gathering while building a life beyond the conventional path.)

A note from where I am

I’m writing this from Accra, Ghana.

It’s a cool day, not too hot, just perfect—with a gentle breeze moving through the air.

I’m sitting on the couch in my parents’ living room, still in my workout clothes, with a lap desk resting across me as I sip a glass of coconut water.

I’m pondering the direction of this piece because it’s the first of its kind:

Some months ago, I took a break from living in Ecuador to return to Ghana, my first home, thinking that being close to family might somehow make me feel more rooted. After nearly two decades away, I thought coming home might resolve some of those feelings and questions surrounding home, identity and belonging, that were increasingly growing within me.

Instead, this season has complicated my understanding of home.

I’m now even more unsure about where I belong in the world.

There is something truly disorienting about returning to the place you come from and realizing you’ve changed so much that you no longer fit-in quite the same way.

Ghana is part of me. It shaped my earliest understanding of the world. My family is here. My history is here. There are parts of myself I can trace directly back to this land.

And yet, I’ve been struggling to feel at home here.

It feels like I no longer fit here as neatly as I used to. Living in the US for over a decade, and then in Ecuador for the past five years have really complicated things for me.

The woman I am now is vastly different. She’s been shaped by all the experiences she’s had, her deaths & rebirths, all the places she’s been, and all the different lives she’s lived between those places.

She values a slower pace of life, nature, exploration, open mindedness, creative freedom, and the ability to design her own life how she sees fit.

Returning to Ghana has brought me face-to-face with how much I’ve changed—and how differently I now want to live.

And it’s left me pondering:

What I’m creating…

Life happens in seasons.

There was a season when I was filming and editing videos for YouTube almost every week—until I burned out.

Now, I try to post at least one video a month. This gives me more time to focus on building other parts of my creative world, including this publication here on Substack.

I’ve also been writing daily on Threads—putting more of my thoughts into the world, finding my voice on a new platform, and slowly building an audience from scratch. It’s always humbling to start again from ground zero.

But creating on Threads feels low-stakes, and I must admit, I’m really enjoying it. It’s also been the perfect place to revisit my old Medium articles and turn them into shorter, relevant posts.

In the past week alone, I’ve grown from fewer than 100 followers to more than 600—and reached 359,000 views. Crazy, right?!

You can follow me on there. And no, I don’t have an active Instagram.

Revamping my digital guides:

I’ve also spent time revamping my digital guides—updating them and breathing new life into them.

The process has reminded me that not everything needs to be abandoned and rebuilt from scratch. Sometimes, you just need to revisit an old project with fresh eyes.

These guides aren’t based on theory. They were shaped by our lived experiences as first-generation immigrants to the U.S.—and later, leaving America, rebuilding our lives abroad, and learning how to create income from anywhere.

As a dual Ghanaian and American citizen, I also understand how differently the world opens up to you depending on the passport you carry. I’ve poured everything these experiences have taught me into creating practical resources for others who want to build lives beyond borders.

Returning to these guides has reminded me just how much knowledge I’ve gathered along the way—and how much value there is in sharing it with others who are preparing to re-build their lives abroad.

Check them out here:

Substack

This month, I shared an in-depth essay, “Leaving America Was Easy. Building a New Life Was Harder,” reflecting on what it really takes to leave behind a familiar life and rebuild from scratch overseas—from navigating money and uncertainty to developing resilience, resourcefulness, and deeper self-trust.

Check it out, if you haven’t.

What this season is teaching me…

Visibility is its own form of inner work.

The more boldly I share my work online, the more I come face-to-face with the parts of myself that still fear being judged.

There’s still a part of me that I have to overcome every time I share my creativity, my work, and my voice with the world. Every time I put myself out there, I feel myself overcoming an older version of me; the one who felt safer hiding and not sharing her gifts with the world.

The hardest part about sharing has been learning not to interpret silence as rejection.

When I share something and it receives very little engagement, the old stories start creeping in: Maybe my work isn’t good enough. Maybe no one cares. Maybe I shouldn’t have shared it at all.

But I’m learning not to give silence so much meaning. It doesn’t automatically mean that my work has been rejected—or that it isn’t valuable.

Showing up and promoting my work more unapologetically is teaching me to stand behind what I create, even when no one is clapping yet. To keep sharing without needing an immediate response to prove that my work matters.

I’m learning to believe in my work before the world gives me a reason to.

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Still frames from this month

This month came with a renewed sense of purpose and direction. The clarity I’d been praying for finally arrived, along with the momentum that had been missing for months.

Something finally clicked: Whatever happens, I MUST KEEP WRITING. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Just keep writing.

Writing has always been a path to clarity for me. It allows me to lay out my thoughts, sift through the noise, and edit away the chaff until I arrive at the heart of what I’m trying to say.

And through doing that over and over again, my purpose in this season has become even clearer:

WRITE. KEEP WRITING.

I don’t know exactly where all this writing will lead yet. But I know good things always happen for me when I write and share publicly. Opportunities arrive, abundance shows up UNEXPECTEDLY, doors open, connections happen and I become more confident in my craft.

I truly love writing. And, I don’t aspire to be the ‘most perfec’t writer in the room…….I just want to be an honest one.

For now, I’m unearthing the ideas as they arrive, giving them somewhere to live, and trusting that the path will continue to reveal itself as I write.

That’s where I am.

Small things that have been sustaining me in this season…

A morning meditation

Morning meditation has been a part of my daily spiritual practice for years now. It helps me set intentions for my day and expands my sense of awareness during the day.

A morning rampage:

This morning rampage has been perfect for injecting my mornings with positive thoughts and goodness. It’s been helping me stay in a high vibration of excitement, especially after playing them in the morning.

A Money & Abundance Rampage

I’ve been listening to this daily, as I continue to repair my relationship with the concept of MONEY and ABUNDANCE. It feels SO GOOD to be excited about and unapologetically in love with money again.

I love money. I love knowing that money is lining up to flow to me with ease. I love knowing that my work is to align myself with the wealth I’m calling in, and remain open to all the ways it will find me. I love that this rampage reminds of all these things…

Other random things I continue to do:

• Journaling almost daily

• Gratitude journaling (3 pages of things I’m grateful for)

• A warm cup of hibiscus tea with some collagen and sea moss in the mornings

• Coconut water daily for hydration

• Intentionally finding pockets of joy in my day.

• Deep intentional breaths.

Until next time…

I don’t know exactly what this next season will look like. But for the first time in a while, I feel excited about where it might lead.

I may not have the entire plan figured out yet, but I know what I need to keep doing. And right now, that’s ENOUGH.

For me, that thing is WRITING.

In the meantime…

Go binge some videos over on Xplora’s Diary. I make slow, calming videos designed to help you slow down, relax, and unwind for a while.

Hey, I’m Judith—writer, filmmaker and creative guide behind The Creative Life Path.

Over here, I write for the unconventional souls who know they’re meant to build a different kind of life.

Through essays, stories, reflections and practical life advice, I explore reinvention, creative living, life beyond borders, and what it means to consciously design a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are—not who the world expects you to become.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📞 Book a 1:1 clarity call and we’ll dive into your goals—whether that’s moving abroad, building online income, or shaping your creative lifestyle.

📬 Join The Creative Life Path for thoughtful essays on life beyond borders, creative living, reinvention, and the courage to build a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

☕ If this work has inspired, encouraged, or supported you in some way, you can buy me a coffee and help me continue creating thoughtful essays and stories like this one.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

Subscribe now

Saying Goodbye!

When my husband and I first broke the news to our families and friends that we were planning to leave the US for Ecuador—in the middle of a global pandemic—we were met with all types of reactions.

Mainly shock, anger and disappointment.

To our Ghanaian families, the decision felt offensive. A betrayal. Not only to the sacrifices of those who made it possible for us to be here, but also to the millions of people who risk their lives every day trying to reach the US in search of opportunity.

And here we were: two insane first generation immigrants to the US ready to leave it all behind and restart our lives in an obscure country called Ecuador.

Understandably, our decision made no sense. At all. Especially given that we were in the middle of a global pandemic.

Whyyy the hell??? What the hell were we thinking?

Our decision felt terribly upsetting to our families. And no amount of words could make it make sense to them. Or console them.

But at that point, I finally understood something important about walking your own unique path:

You don’t need PERMISSION. APPROVAL. Or VALIDATION from anyone. You just need the courage to TRUST YOURSELF enough to go after the life you want.

Because time is a gift we never get back.

Especially when you’re young and have the freedom to take risks that don’t always make sense to the logical mind.

Yet, In-spite of all the backlash we received for our decision to leave the US six years ago, walking away from The American Dream was still by far the easiest part of the whole journey.

Putting together savings, Downsizing our lives, Packing our bags, and working through immigration requirements were truly some of the easiest parts of the journey. Sure, it got overwhelming and frustrating sometimes. But it was all still so exciting.

There was so much to look forward to. So much to anticipate. A whole new life ahead of us.

And as a content creator, I understand that these exciting parts are easy to film. Finding a new apartment. Exploring a new city. Trying different cultural foods. Visiting cafés. Beautiful scenery. I have several videos like these on my youtube channel.

But the hardest parts of the journey rarely make it on camera. The daily struggles that emerge once the novelty wears off, and the excitement settles. And real life begins.

Honestly, if you’re thinking about exiting America, it’s important to keep things in perspective, to know that leaving is always the easiest part of the entire journey.

Rebuilding your life from scratch in a new country, that’s where the real work starts…

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The America You Leave Behind

By the time you’re ready to leave America, you’re probably at your wits’ end. Frustrated with the entire system. Maybe even drowning under the weight of a high cost of living.

You want a reprieve. You want to escape.

You want something better. Something different. Something new. Perhaps, a different rhythm of life. Or a new sense of adventure.

You fantasize about your new beginnings. Sometimes, even over-romanticizing it. The ease. The comfort. The novelty of it all.

And you CANNOT WAIT to get the hell out of your current situation.

But before you pack your bags, I need you to KNOW what you’re leaving behind, when you choose to walk away from America.

But here’s what you need to understand:

Being able to spend dollars abroad is VERY DIFFERENT from being able to earn dollars abroad.

Those are two completely different realities.

And living off your savings is not a long-term financial plan either. It’s just a countdown to the money eventually running out.

This means, if you’re seriously considering leaving America, one of your primary focuses should be financial sustenance.

Ask yourself these questions…..

• How do I plan to sustain my life abroad?

• How do I plan on continuously earning US dollars abroad?

• What skills can I leverage digitally to continue earning in USD?

Unless you have a job lined up to work for an International company, or plan to open a business, I don’t recommend moving abroad with the intention of finding a job, especially if you’re moving to a developing country.

Because the reality is, local jobs pay local wages. And those wages are not designed for someone who’s still trying to pay U.S. student loans, credit card debt, or build wealth in U.S. dollars.

A lot of people make the mistake of simply assuming that they’ll just find a job once they land abroad. But in most countries, it’s not that simple.

Employers usually prioritize hiring local citizens. And unless you have highly specialized skills, getting a work visa can also be incredibly difficult.

And if you’re in the process of trying to figure out the income piece, I put together a guide called Laptop Money that explores different ways to earn online and build a location-independent income. It might help you think through your options before you take the leap.

The truth is, moving abroad isn't just an immigration decision. It's an economic decision too.

You have to get VERY CLEAR about how you're going to support yourself once you get there. Because you're not just changing where you live. You're also changing the economic system you participate in.

And I don’t think enough Americans really understand what that means until they’ve already left.

When you’ve spent your entire life earning in dollars, it’s easy to take that reality for granted.

You don't fully appreciate the advantage until you're forced to figure out how to make $USD outside the system you've always known.

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Building a new life…

Before we left the US, our plan was simple….

Lower our cost of living so we didn’t have to exchange all of our time for money, just to continue paying to live. The cycle no longer made sense to us.

Reclaim our time.

Invest in ourselves.

Pick up new, high-paying digital skills.

Figure out how to leverage our creativity and use the internet to make money.

Experience the world in new ways.

Build a location-independent lifestyle.

And honestly...figure the rest out as we went.

For us, walking away from the American Dream was an opportunity to opt out of a system designed around accumulating more.

The American Dream teaches you to keep climbing. Want more. Buy more. Own more. Achieve more. More. More. More. And more. There was always more to be had.

And somehow, MORE always equated to success.

But by 2020, we were done chasing more. We wanted LESS.

Less rushing. Less bills. Less stuff. Less debt. Less of our lives consumed by accumulating stuff.

The only things we wanted more of were: More money, more health, more peace and more soul-enriching, life-changing experiences. That’s it!

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The truth is… ejecting ourselves from The American System forced us to re-design our lives and re-define what success actually meant to us.

• What did we really want out of life?

• What did we want out of this human experience?

• What did we want our days to feel like?

• What kind of creative work did we want to do?

• Did we want to simply exist inside a system constantly enticing us to accumulate more? Or did we want to take risks and actually LIVE more NOW?

We chose the latter.

And honestly, taking that leap of faith into the unknown felt a lot like jumping off a cliff with nothing but a parachute made of hope and ideas. Trusting that, somehow, we’d eventually land on our feet.

The Process Rebuilt Us

In a way, leaving America the way we did—with no remote jobs, just our laptops and dreams of somehow making it—unlocked a new level of survival mode in us.

But it also unlocked a whole new level of CREATIVITY.

We had to figure out how to sustain our lives moving forward. And we had to figure it out creatively and intentionally.

No more living according to some generic template. No more American Dream to hold onto.

Just rebuilding our lives, brick by brick. With determination. Painstakingly. Sometimes with tears in our eyes. And an exhausted spirit.

The last six years of our lives have really been one big experiment in conscious, creative life design. Asking ourselves how we actually want to live, the kind of life we want to create, and who we need to become in the process.

Has the journey been easy? Absolutely NOT.

Has it been worth it? 100%

I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat if it meant becoming the version of myself I am today.

Since leaving America, I’ve become a blogger, writer, visual storyteller, filmmaker, and now, a guide to other creative souls who want to consciously design their lives too.

Duke, my partner, has deepened his craft as an artist and built his software development studio from scratch. With no previous knowledge on how to write a line of code. I am so proud of him.

Neither of us left America as these versions of ourselves.

All we left with were; two suitcases each, our laptops, a few ideas, and a dream. But the people we are today have been shaped by the journey. By the uncertainty. By the necessity to create. By all the moments when we had no fucking idea what we were doing, but had to find a way forward anyway.

In many ways, we haven’t just been building a new life, we’ve been re-building newer versions of ourselves too.

And oh boy, has it not been easy.

Yes, we’ve almost run out of money a couple of times.

Yes, we’ve had moments where we didn’t know where the next dollar was going to come from. And then... somehow, something always happens. An opportunity. An idea. A new way forward. We create something out of thin air. Miracles happen. Money shows up. And somehow, we figure it out. Again and again.

Living this way has taught me how to trust myself. It’s taught me to trust Source. God. Life. The Universe.

I think building your dream life has become overly romanticized on the internet these days.

In reality, it’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, because it requires you to become a different version of yourself. Over and over again.

You can’t ask for an entirely different life and expect to remain the exact same person. The journey will stretch you. Challenge you. Bring you face-to-face with some of your your deepest fears.

And if you let it, it will reshape you.

Because the honest unfiltered truth is —rebuilding your life from scratch, especially in a new country, can be FUCKING HARD!

It can be a lot!

But at some point, it hit me that leaving America wasn’t just a geographical change for me, but the continuation of a spiritual journey that had already begun years before.

I used the entire endeavor as an opportunity to get back behind the wheel of my own life.

To become the conscious creator of my reality.

To stop living by default and start living by design.

Despite all the uncertainty, all the difficult seasons, and all the times we’ve had to rebuild from scratch, I can finally say this:

And there’s something deeply liberating about that. Realizing that we have permission to design our lives for ourselves, in any way we see fit.

Because living in alignment with your deepest truth is one of the greatest ways you can honor who you truly are.

Finally….

Leaving America changed our lives in ways we never could have anticipated. It became a portal into an entirely new way of living and being.

But after everything we’ve experienced over the last six years, I can also confidently say this:

You can start designing a life that’s more intentional, meaningful, supported by your creativity TODAY.

You only have to begin by getting RADICALLY HONEST about the kind of life you truly desire.

But if, like we did, you feel that unexplainable intense desire to leave the country to be somewhere else… then by all means, DO NOT IGNORE IT.

Sit with it.

Explore it.

Research it.

Honor it.

Because sometimes, the life you're meant to live begins the moment you find the COURAGE to TRUST that inner voice. YOUR INTUITION.

If you’re seriously considering moving abroad, I hope this essay gave you a more realistic picture of what the journey can look like.

And if you’re flirting with the idea of moving abroad, I created The Complete Research Guide to Moving & Living Abroad to help you think through the practical side of building a life overseas—from choosing a country to finances, visas, healthcare, housing, and much more.

But if you’ve already decided you’re ready to take the leap and are wondering, “Where do I even begin?” I also created Design Your Escape: A Lifestyle Blueprint for Thriving Abroad.

It’s my complete step-by-step guidance bundle, bringing together everything I’ve learned from rebuilding my own life abroad over the last six years. Inside, you’ll find my research guide, planning workbook, and resources to help you create a sustainable, location-independent life—not just move to another country.

I hope this was helpful.

I’d love to hear from you.

Are you thinking about leaving the U.S. or whatever country you’re reading from?

Or have you already done it?

What’s one lesson you’ve learned about re-building your life in another country?

About the Author:

Hey, I’m Judith—writer, filmmaker and creative guide behind The Creative Life Path.

Over here, I write for the unconventional souls who know they’re meant to build a different kind of life.

Through essays, stories, reflections and practical life advice, I explore reinvention, creative living, life beyond borders, and what it means to consciously design a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are—not who the world expects you to become.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📞 Book a 1:1 clarity call and we’ll dive into your goals—whether that’s moving abroad, building online income, or shaping your creative lifestyle.

📬 Join The Creative Life Path for thoughtful essays on life beyond borders, creative living, reinvention, and the courage to build a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

It’s so much easier to become a new version of yourself when the people who have always known you aren’t watching. I’m talking about family. Friends. People you went to high school with. The people who already have an idea of who you are and unconsciously expect you to stay the same.

Over the past few years, I’ve realized something:

When I started blogging online, none of my family or friends knew about it. At the time, I wasn’t “a writer.” At least, that’s not how I saw myself. I was just someone trying to become one. And as you can imagine, I had a lot of imposter syndrome. I wondered if anyone would read my work. I wondered if people would think, Since when did Judith become a writer?

But more than anything, I could feel something within me rising: a voice, yearning to be expressed. And I needed a safe space for it to emerge. I needed room to explore who I was becoming. To experiment. To write badly. To rediscover parts of myself without feeling like I was performing for people who only knew an older version of me.

A few years later, when I started my YouTube channel, I kept that a secret too! Many of my family and friends have never watched a single one of my videos. Some of them have NO CLUE I even have a YouTube channel. Honestly...I prefer it that way.

When I started YouTube, I worried about everything. How I looked. Whether my clothes looked too old. Whether I was repeating the same outfits in every other video. Whether my videos were good enough.

Looking back, it would have been a shame to miss out on growing my filmmaking and visual storytelling skills, simply because I was too worried about being perceived by family and friends.

For a long time, I thought I was hiding. Looking back, I realize I wasn’t hiding at all….

Every new identity needs an incubation period.

The beginning of every creative journey is delicate. You’re learning from scratch. You’re not very good at the thing just yet. Your confidence is still forming. Your voice is still developing. In many ways, you’re fragile.

Just like a newborn baby needs a safe environment, so does a new identity.

It needs room to breathe before it’s introduced to the world. It needs to be protected from unnecessary doubt, constant opinions, and the subtle pressure of feeling watched. Especially by people who think they already know you.

Because the thing is… a stranger’s negative comment on your creativity, or process, doesn’t usually sting as much as, a negative comment from someone you know or love.

It doesn’t have to be forever.

Just for the time being, while you settle confidently into your new identity and creative path.

Privacy gave me permission to be bad.

Looking back, I’m incredibly grateful that I built the foundation of my creative life in private. It gave me permission to publish imperfect work. To write articles no one read. To make videos that weren’t very good. To experiment. To suck at something while I was learning.

I didn’t have to convince people I was becoming a writer. I simply wrote almost everyday online.

I didn’t have to convince people I was becoming a YouTuber. I just kept making videos and showing up consistently on YouTube.

With time, those actions helped me settle confidently into my new identity as writer, filmmaker and visual storyteller.

I reinvented myself without feeling like I had to explain that reinvention to people who only knew an older version of me.

Strangers became some of my greatest supporters.

One of the biggest surprises from walking the creative path was realizing that strangers on the internet often became my biggest cheerleaders.

They didn’t know older versions of me. They weren’t attached to who I used to be. They simply met me where I was, and let me just be me.

That was refreshing in a way I hadn’t expected. Even, liberating!

In the process, I realized something important: I didn’t need the people who knew me to validate my work for my work to matter.

So stop worrying about the support, or lack of support, from the people closest to you. Focus on creating. Focus on sharing freely. The right people will find you.

They always do.

So…begin quietly.

If you’re in a season of reinvention, I want you to remember this:

You don’t have to announce every new beginning. You don’t have to share your next move. You don’t have to post every idea or explain every plan. You can just move in silence.

You can simply begin, quietly… without support, without applause, without an existing audience, without fanfare, without permission.

Create the page.

Start the channel.

Launch the newsletter.

Write the book.

Apply for the job.

Move to the new city.

Become the person you’re trying to become before you ask the world to validate her.

There will be time to share your work. There will be time to celebrate. There will be time to tell the whole story.

But first — give yourself permission to meet this new version of yourself in private.

The world can meet her later.

I’d love to hear from you.

Have you ever started something in secret?

Have you ever thought of starting something in secret?

Or are you quietly becoming someone new right now?

Leave a comment below. I’d genuinely love to read your thoughts.

And if you’re in a season of designing your next chapter, subscribe to The Creative Life Path.

Every week, I write about reinvention, creativity, and building a life that feels deeply aligned—from the inside out.

About the Author:

Hey, I’m Judith — Writer and Creator behind The Creative Life Path.

Through years of healing, travel, creativity, and intentional life design, I’ve learned that creating a life that feels deeply aligned often requires unlearning inherited definitions of success and finding the courage to author your own path instead.

Here, you’ll find essays, reflections, stories, and field notes on becoming, life beyond borders, the creative life path, and the lessons I’m gathering along the way.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📬 Join The Creative Life Path newsletter for weekly reflections on creative entrepreneurship, healing, lifestyle design, travel and intentional living.

📞 Book a 1:1 clarity call and we’ll dive into your goals - whether that’s moving abroad, building online income, or shaping your creative lifestyle.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

Creativity and Business are two very different things.

I learned that quickly in real time as I built “Plants Matter,’ my small plant-based skincare business from my kitchen counter in the Bronx.

It’s quite the spiritual process when you think about it… from the point of conception of an idea, to the process of bringing it to life, and looking at the finished product.

It’s alchemy. Magic!

It is Divine Creative God-energy at work!

Business, on the other hand, can feel much more structured.

More rigid. More analytical. Suddenly you’re thinking about things like business plans, strategy, systems, consistency, discipline, pricing, revenue, profit margins, taxes, banking, and marketing.

A completely different language and skillset from creativity.

Honestly? Business can feel so boring in comparison to the joy of creating.

You need the artist to dream, imagine, create, and bring new ideas into the world.

And then you need the entrepreneur to figure out how to get those creations into the hands of the people they’re meant to serve. How to market them. How to sell them. How to build systems around them. How to generate enough revenue from them to sustain your creativity.

And for a long time, I think I leaned more heavily into the artist because it was the part I enjoyed the most. The dreaming. The imagining. The creating.

But lately, I’ve been realizing that if I truly want to build a more sustainable life around my creativity, I have to become just as comfortable with the entrepreneurial side too.

And that’s partly why I’ve become so intentional about building The Creative Life Path on Substack. Because while writing essays/articles/newsletters/blog posts about things I’m passionate about is the creative part, building a publication is the entrepreneurial part.

It’s thinking intentionally about growth. Community. Subscribers. Revenue. Distribution. Strategy.

And my first few months on Substack have reminded me that being a digital creative entrepreneur isn’t just about creating beautiful things for the internet. It’s also about building the ecosystem and ownership!

Returning to Writing

For those who are new here, writing isn’t new to me.

A few years ago, I spent countless hours writing and building on Medium (a blogging platform) . I wrote daily articles there, and soon, writing on the platform became my full-time job.

Back then, Duke and I had just left the US and moved to Ecuador, and I was trying to figure out how to support myself as a digital creative entrepreneur.

In hindsight, I realize moving abroad set me on a new career path of becoming a digital writer.

Since then, writing online has opened doors I never imagined existed for me. It helped me build an audience of nearly 2,000 followers on Medium, which led to various freelance job opportunities. And eventually, a healthy five figure full-time writing position at a crypto publication.

But somewhere along the way, between navigating survival mode and exploring new passions, I lost my passion for writing online. Much of my creative energy went into into learning the art of filmmaking, visual storytelling and figuring out the YouTube platform.

Recently though, I’ve felt this deep calling to return to the practice of writing publicly again. And if you’re a subscriber of TheXplorasDiary then I’m sure you’ve probably noticed this shift too in my videos as well.

This is why I’ve decided to embark on a new journey here on Substack (the platform through which you’re receiving this email in your inbox: for my subscribers)

Share The Creative Life Path

Why I’ve Chosen To Build On Substack

One of the biggest lessons digital entrepreneurship has taught me is the power and importance of owning your audience.

As creators, we spend years building audiences on platforms we don’t own. Like… Instagram. TikTok. Medium. Even YouTube.

We invest time, energy, creativity, and thousands of hours into building communities, only to discover that an algorithm ultimately determines how many people see our work.

Creators spend years building audiences. Then one day, an algorithm changes. Or even worse, you decide to take a break. Your reach drops. Engagement disappears. And suddenly it feels like you’re starting all over again.

That’s one of the reasons I’ve decided to prioritize Substack in this chapter of my creative entrepreneurial journey.

Because Substack allows me to build a direct relationship with my audience.

When someone subscribes, I can reach them directly. I don’t need to battle algorithms. Fight for attention. Or hope a platform decides my work is worthy of distribution.

Substack, just like any other email newsletter platform, offers me a direct connection between me and my audience.

But I’m choosing to go with Substack over any other newsletter platform because of the potential for organic reach within the platform’s ecosystem.

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I understand that Substack is by no means a perfect platform!

I’ve listened to several arguments for and against the platform.

But I’m still choosing to go with it in this season because — it’s honestly a good starting point for this chapter of my creative entrepreneurial journey! I can choose to transfer my email list from this platform whenever I decide to leave.

Besides, I think starting here is a better choice than overthinking which platform would be best, and never actually writing at all. You get my drift?

Better to just start now, and figure it out as I go!

Anyway, I hope to drop frequent updates on how I’m finding the platform, what I’m learning, and significant milestones on the journey, so don’t forget to subscribe to keep up with me here.

My Results So Far

Now for the practical side of things.

Over the past few months, I’ve inconsistently published five articles.

I currently have 27 subscribers. (Thank you to you all my lovely subscribers)

Three wonderful paid subscribers. (Grateful for my 3 paid subscribers for giving me the confidence I needed to continue down this path. May Source-God continue to replenish your pockets 10x)

And roughly $300 in annual recurring revenue. (not monthly revenue. Just to be clear!)

By internet standards, these aren’t groundbreaking numbers. But entrepreneurship has taught me to view numbers differently.

When I look at those numbers, I don’t see 27 subscribers. I see 27 people who have chosen to spend a small portion of their lives reading my work. If 27 will, then 20,000+ subscribers could be reading my work in a matter of time.

I just need to keep doing what I’m doing.

Keep publishing articles consistently. (I’m honestly still finding my rhythm juggling long hours of editing for youtube, publishing on substack, and other demands of life)

• Schedule/Post daily notes.

• Interact with other writers on the platform.

• Keep learning.

• Keep showing up.

• Keep adding value.

The creative entrepreneurial journey can be A LOT OF WORK, especially when you’re starting again out on a new platform.

But I’m willing to give this experiment at least a full year before making any judgments. So stick around for monthly updates.

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Final Thoughts

Five articles in, I feel incredibly encouraged to continue down this path.

I’m also very happy to have returned to something I love doing — writing, adding value to my community and building something that belongs to me.

A body of work. A publication. A digital garden. A community. An asset.

If there is one vital lesson I’ve learned on this creative entrepreneurial journey, it’s this:

Thanks for reading.

Read My Other Stories:

About the Author:

Hey, I’m Judith — Writer and Creator behind The Creative Life Path.

Through years of healing, travel, creativity, and intentional life design, I’ve learned that creating a life that feels deeply aligned often requires unlearning inherited definitions of success and finding the courage to author your own path instead.

Here, you’ll find essays, reflections, stories, and field notes on becoming, life beyond borders, the creative life path, and the lessons I’m gathering along the way.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📬 Join The Creative Life Path newsletter for weekly reflections on creative entrepreneurship, healing, lifestyle design, travel and intentional living.

📞 Book a 1:1 clarity call and we’ll dive into your goals - whether that’s moving abroad, building online income, or shaping your creative lifestyle.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

As I scripted my last YouTube video… these words flowed from my spirit.

As someone who has spent a good amount of time on different continents, countries, states, and cities, I’ve found this to be true.

Every place I’ve ever travelled to, visited or lived in, has shaped the woman I’ve become today. They’ve all offered unique environments, perspectives and energies that have invited me to grow, expand and evolve into a new woman.

As a highly sensitive person and thinker who loves travel, culture, history, metaphysics, philosophy and spirituality. I observe and absorb the world uniquely. As my awareness continues to expand, I’ve become more attuned to the subtle energies that shape different places and spaces, as well as, the collective states of consciousness that people live within.

This awareness helps me sense whether a place is truly in alignment with my current needs (physically, energetically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually), and how long I can realistically remain in a particular environment.

Let’s keep it real! Not all environments are good for us, or support our growth. Some are silent killers. Depleting us. Draining us of our life force. Diminishing our vitality, creativity, and sense of possibility. And sometimes, we need to leave as soon as we can, before it sucks the life out of us.

Some environments are also perfect for us, for a time, period or season!

And then we outgrow them, needing change, stimulation, new challenges and new energies to become the newer versions of ourselves.

Traveling gives us humans the opportunity to change our environments, for the better or worse. It’s what differentiates us humans from plants and trees. We have the power and ability to uproot ourselves and re-plant ourselves in any environment of our choosing.

Outside of our Divine Creative Power, it’s one of the perks we enjoy as humans.

We can move whenever and wherever we choose (of course, within the realities of cost, visas, logistics, and other practical considerations). We can migrate. We can change our environments, and in doing so, change our lives.

The U.S. (My second home)

Nearly two decades ago, arriving as an immigrant in the US completely transformed my life and allowed to me re-birth a new version of myself and my life.

It wasn’t just America, in itself, that changed my life.

It was the environments; the different physical, mental and emotional landscapes that I was exposed to. The educational opportunities, the people I encountered, the conversations I had, the classes I sat in, the books I read, the transformative experiences, the stretching, the trauma, the love, the pain, the depression, the loneliness, the grief, the weather, and all of the different places I had lived.

Together, these experiences set me on a new timeline; one of self-discovery, personal evolution, and the beginning of a spiritual awakening.

Of course, the U.S. is by no means a perfect country. Especially right now, when it feels like its society is regressing in so many ways.

But on a consciousness level, it still feels like one of the FREE’est places on the planet.

While some freedoms are currently being challenged and are far from perfect, the level of personal, intellectual, religious, and creative freedom I encountered there was transformative. It expanded my worldview and ultimately, changed the trajectory of my life.

Still, no place is without its contradictions! And I say this is not idealizing or romanticizing the US, but about holding space for its complexities, limitations, and realities.

But in my experience, the collective consciousness, energetic landscape, and diversity of experiences available in the United States created the perfect environment for my growth, expansion, and evolution into a more authentic version of myself.

New York City

Six years in New York City made me fall in love with the beauty and diversity of the world. Especially, as I ate my way across the globe — Bao and dim sum from Chinatown, chicken parmigiana and lasagna from Little Italy, lamb dibi and poulet yassa from Little Senegal, Jollof rice and waakye from ‘Accra’, Arroz con pollo and Chicharrones from the Bronx. Halal from a random street vendor. Every neighborhood and dish, carried its own unique culture, story, and flavor!

And with every multicultural dish I devoured in New York City, I fell a little more in love with countries I’d never been to, people I’d never met, and cultures I’d never experienced.

Eating out was always an invitation to travel, to step into new worlds, new stories, and different cultures, all without ever leaving the city. It’s a foodie's dream!

As my culinary palate continued to expand, so did my appreciation for the richness and diversity of the world around me.

Slowly, I learned to become less judgemental of the things I didn’t understand. More compassionate and accepting of people from all walks of life, even if we didn’t share the same ideas or beliefs. In a land of differences, I learned to hold space and respect those who were different from me.

I also learned that it was okay to be different, even a little crazy! To be unique. To be expressive. To take up space. To be free.

It’s one of the reasons why New York will always hold a special place in my heart. Because beneath all that chaos and speed, was a rare kind of freedom; the freedom to become who ever you want to become.

Over there, I met a new version of myself - the one who cared less about what people thought of her, especially, when she was just being herself.

China

Beijing came into my life when I needed it the most.

My boyfriend of three years had turned out to be a serial cheater, and one of my closest friends had been murdered on campus the year before. I was drowning in anger, grief, and what felt like a lifetime’s worth of unprocessed emotions.

I needed to get as far away from everything as possible.

What I understand now is that I wasn’t only trying to escape my circumstances. I was trying to escape myself. The grief. The heartbreak. The unanswered questions. The weight of it all that had lodged itself so deeply in my chest. I wanted to escape it all!

So I found a study abroad program online, convinced my parents to support me, and booked a flight from D.C. to Beijing.

I knew I needed something drastic; a new environment, a new sense of adventure, a step into the unknown. I needed a break from my reality. I needed to feel the joy of living once again.

And so, I did it! And it was one of the best decisions of my life!

I arrived in Beijing on a cold January evening, and walked straight into a new timeline. I had a beautiful serviced apartment in a nice part of the city. A three -month internship at an Australian consulting firm that paid me well.

I had a brand new life. In a brand new country. With new housemates, new friends and acquaintances.

That experience alone opened me up to the reality that I could live and work anywhere in the world. That the world was a big beautiful place filled with so many different cultures and travel experiences waiting to be had.

Four months into Beijing, I had become a more courageous and confident young lady. I was bolder. Less afraid of taking risks. Less apprehensive to try new things. More adventurous. I felt more alive on the inside.

It’s crazy for me to think that was twelve years ago, in my final year of college.

But I still remember Beijing in fragments. Early morning commutes on crowded trains to work, structured streets, night food markets, old cobble stone streets hidden in Hutong alleyways, steaming bowls of noodles and dumplings from little hole in the wall restaurants. Evening massages after work. Drunken nights dancing in clubs in Sanlitun.

The experience was healing, in a non conventional way. But in a way that helped me remember that life could feel expansive again. That I could feel alive again

So let me be the one to tell you……It doesn’t matter what you’re going through right now.

If you’ve had that inkling to get out of the country and take a break from a heavy reality you’re facing,

I’ll be the bad influence and say: do it.

Book that trip.

It may not change your life. But it’ll give you enough space to breathe, heal, and remind you of how different life can feel again.

Jamaica

Arriving in Jamaica felt like nothing short of a divinely orchestrated detour.

My partner and I hadn’t planned on being there, but somehow, there we were, standing on a newly formed stretch of shoreline in Bull Bay, Kingston.

The locals told us about how the shoreline had not been there, just the night before.

But somehow, heavy rains had reshaped the entire landscape in a matter of hours, right before our arrival.

Things had changed overnight!

Just like our lives.

One moment, we were saying goodbye to our lives in the U.S. and boarding a flight headed for Ecuador. The next, we found ourselves unexpectedly spending three and a half months in Jamaica.

Looking back, it felt as though we had accidentally manifested our time there.

During the early days of the pandemic, while stuck indoors like everyone else, we spent countless hours bingeing on Jamaican youtube videos, dreaming of island vibes, without ever imagining we’d soon find ourselves living there for a couple of months.

And so, there we were. Two foreigners arriving from the U.S. carrying US dollars in a country whose tourism industry had just buckled under the weight a global shutdown. Travel had slowed down immensely and many locals had been plunged deeper into survival mode.

You can only imagine the levels of financial exploitation we endured!

But amid all that uncertainty, Jamaica offered us something we didn’t even know we were searching for; a healing of the soul!

Nearly four months on the island nourished parts of my soul I didn’t even know were longing to be nourished.

The spectacular sunrises, slow mornings by the sea, the smell of burning ganja drifting through the air, the sound of early 2000s R&B music pouring out on the streets, the smell of roasting jerk slowly kissing the air, fresh Ital food, listening to the philosophies of the Rastas, the lavish green mountains, the crystal clear blue skies, the stunning sunsets.

Everything about the experience felt just right for the soul! Well, except for the relentless mosquitoes that tried to suck the life out of me.

But still, Jamaica remains one of my favorite places in the world because it introduced me to true slow living and reminded me that life is far more mysterious, magical, and miraculous than we often allow ourselves to believe.

I left the Island feeling mentally and spiritually rejuvenated. And a little more trusting of life's unfolding.

Ecuador

Leaving the United States for Ecuador was a deepening of that lesson for me.

After a J-term class to Ecuador during my time in Seminary, I was in love! I could not stop talking about Ecuador, and how healing the energy of the land felt to me.

Little did I know that 4 years after my first visit. My partner and I would be moving there.

I’ve always found Ecuador to be such a captivating place: The enormous lush mountains. The clean food. The relatively affordable cost of living. The eco-philosophies and consciousness of the people. The culture of the indegenous people. The simple slow-tranquilo vibes. The quality of life.

Ecuador felt like it was calling us. And when we arrived, it offered us the perfect foundation to rebuild our lives from scratch.

We started out in Vilcabamba, ‘The Valley of Longevity’, a tiny village tucked away in the Southern Part of the Andean Mountains of Ecuador.

Life was simple there.

We spent our days going on long walks by the river in nature, contemplating our dreams, playing in rivers, and spending countless hours behind our laptops trying to figure out how to make this new chapter of our lives work.

We learned everything about re-designing our lives in real time! Remote work. Freelancing. Blogging. Software Development. Digital marketing. Crypto trading. Online business.

Day by day, we pieced together a new way of living and supporting ourselves while creating more freedom, flexibility, and alignment in our lives. More than anything, Vilcabamba gave us the space to build a completely new relationship with life.

Then, two and a half years later, we moved to Cuenca, a charming and colorful city nestled in the Andes. If Vilcabamba was where I learned to slow down, Cuenca was where I began to bloom.

There, in that tranquil and artistically vibrant city, I stepped more fully into my identity as a writer, filmmaker, and visual storyteller.

Its cobblestone streets, colonial architecture, cute cozy, cafés, art galleries, and slower rhythm of life nurtured something within me that had been waiting to emerge.

Overall, Ecuador has been medicine for my soul. It gave me time to heal. Space to create. A deeper relationship with my creative side.

It was in Ecuador that the XplorasDiary was born.

It was there that my philosophy around intentional living, lifestyle design, creativity, and international living began to take shape.

It was also where I came face-to-face with my nervous system, burnout, and the parts of myself that were still operating from survival mode.

Ecuador proved my hypothesis, that changing your environment will indeed CHANGE YOUR LIFE. It’ll set you on a whole new timeline.

Spending the last 5 years there has introduced me to new versions of myself I didn’t even know existed within. I met Judith the blogger. Judith the writer. Judith the filmmaker. Judith the visual storyteller. Judith the Youtuber. Judith the creative digital entrepreneur.

And for that, Ecuador will always hold a special place in my heart.

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Ghana

My husband and I are back in Ghana now, to the first place we ever called home. And I’ve been navigating intense feelings about this new season of my life and who it’s inviting me to become. (It’ll require an essay of it’s own. Just not today!)

But I’ve been documenting the journey visually, sharing reflections and lessons in my new series Diasporic Diaries on youtube.

You can check it out, and please subscribe to keep up with me on there

I share all of this not to romanticize travel or to suggest that moving will solve everything. Because, honestly, it won’t!

But I do believe we underestimate how deeply our environments shape us. How they influence our thoughts, our nervous systems, our creativity, our identity, and even our sense of possibility.

And in all of it, I’ve come to understand something simple but profound: We are not fixed beings living fixed lives.

We are constantly being shaped by our environments; the places we inhabit, the people we surround ourselves with, the ideas we consume, and the experiences we have.

Perhaps the question is not simply about who we are becoming, but whether our current environment is helping us become who we're meant to be.

I hope this essay invites you to reflect more deeply on your own environment.

I’ll leave you with these reflective questions to sit with….

• What kind of environment am I currently living in, and how is it shaping my emotions, thoughts, and energy?

• Do I feel expanded or contracted where I am right now?

• What version of me is my current environment reinforcing, and is that aligned with who I am becoming?

• What parts of myself have come alive because of where I live? And what parts have gone quiet?

• What is my spirit asking me to change about my environment, even if I’m not ready to act on it yet?

  The Creative Life Path is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

About the Author:

Hey, I’m Judith — Writer, Creative Lifestyle & Reinvention Guide behind The Creative Life Path.

Through years of inner work, spiritual exploration, and life across borders, I’ve learned that creating a meaningful life often requires unlearning the stories we’ve inherited about who we’re supposed to be, and what are lives are supposed to look like.

Here, I share reflections on healing, creativity, intentional living, and the ongoing journey of consciously designing a life that feels aligned and alive.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📬 Join The Creative Life Path newsletter for weekly reflections on creative entrepreneurship, healing, lifestyle design, travel and intentional living.

📞 Book a 1:1 clarity call and we’ll dive into your goals - whether that’s moving abroad, building online income, or shaping your creative lifestyle.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

Subscribe now

Creating your dream life is A CHALLENGING SPIRITUAL PROCESS.

It’s a path that will test you.

A journey, that’ll invite you to become newer versions of yourself.

Over, and over again.

And with each new version of yourself that you become,

You create a new world.

You unlock and project a new reality.

It’s also really a journey of BECOMING.

One, that takes PATIENCE, RESILIENCE, TRUST, COURAGE, MENTAL FORTITUDE and SPIRITUAL APTITUDE

Because letting go of the script society has handed you,

And being BOLD and AUDACIOUS enough to CHASE YOUR DREAMS,

To write your own rules, to live life on your own terms.

To be your authentic self, and honor your internal truths.

Especially as a woman, can feel like a slap in the face to a patriarchal world!

Because how dare you reject the rules?

How dare you reject culture and tradition? How dare you want something different from the blueprint society has handed you?

How dare you be yourself in a world, where we’ve been subconsciously programmed to believe ‘YOU’RE NOT ENOUGH!’?

How dare you embrace your weirdness, as your uniqueness?

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU to want to live this way?!

The thing is..

When you’re honoring your truth, and co-creating reality with your INTERNAL GUIDANCE SYSTEM,

You’ll most likely encounter SOCIAL RESISTANCE, as well as, MENTAL and SPIRITUAL WARFARE

YOUR MIND; telling you - YOU CAN’T. YOU’RE NOT ENOUGH. YOU’RE NOT WORHTY.

YOUR SPIRIT? held back by the LIMITATIONS OF THE MIND.

The SOCIETY - telling you there’s something wrong with who you are and that your dreams are impossible!

And then, before you know it - your mission on earth gets compromised.

Your Purpose, not lived!

Your Mission, not accomplished!

Your Incarnation, ‘wasted’!

Because you were too afraid TO BE YOURSELF and LIVE FROM THAT SPACE

Too afraid to be who SOURCE/GOD created you to be.

Too afraid - to go after the life you truly wanted.

Too afraid - to trust yourself!

I like to remind myself that one day, EVERYTHING WILL PASS…

The thoughts and opinions of THE PEOPLE (family, friends and strangers) we let hold us back,

The material possessions, we trade our lives to amass.

E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G will pass!

The entire material world as we know it will eventually collapse in our consciousness, as our souls transition out of this material plane of existence..

None of us can escape that fate.

The mortality of the body is an eventuality.

And what will matter in the end is -

If we truly found the courage to be who SOURCE/GOD created us to be?

And, if we lived in the world from that space…

Because that is our PURPOSE - to be who GOD/SOURCE created us to be, and to live in the world from that space. Period.

A good way to think about it is - we’re all tiny cells in the body of SOURCE/GOD,

Each cell, here to perform a specific role.

No-one tells the cells that make up the tissues and organs in our bodies how to perform… They just do! By virtue of how and what they were designed to be,

They perform and fulfill their role within the body - just by being.

Their instruction for their expression of being-ness? Naturally encoded into the intelligence of the cell.

Similarly, we’re just like cells within the body,

Here to perform specific roles that can only be performed by us being - our unique authentic selves, and operating from that space

And in doing that, we each fulfill our purpose here on earth.

Who ever you are reading this, I pray you find the COURAGE TO BE YOURSELF, TO FOLLOW YOUR HIGHEST PASSION AND TO GO IN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR DREAMS.

Welcome to the notes from the CREATIVE LIFE PATH.

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About the Author:

Hey, I’m Judith — a writer, creative guide, and lifestyle designer behind The Creative Life Path.

I create from the in-between spaces of healing, reinvention, and intentional living. Over the last decade, my life has taken me through deep inner work, spiritual exploration, and a long unlearning of what I thought life was supposed to look like — all in service of designing something more aligned, free, and alive.

Right now, I’m building a life and body of work across borders, exploring what it means to heal the nervous system, reclaim creativity, and intentionally design a life that actually feels like yours.

This space is where I share the behind-the-scenes of that journey — the reflections, the lessons, and the truths I’m still learning in real time.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📬 Join The Creative Life Path newsletter for weekly reflections on creative entreprenuership, healing, lifestyle design, travel and intentional living.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

I remember sitting in my bedroom in Philadelphia in 2019, miserable, thinking to myself:

“I need to find a way to escape this place. I need to get out of America. At least for now!”

My spirit was telling me that I needed to leave, not just physically, but energetically.

I needed space to reset my life.

I needed to escape the hood! A food desert where you couldn’t find a decent tomato or onion to cook with. A place littered with corner stores that sold only poison disguised as processed foods.

I needed to give myself access to a better quality of life.

Don’t get me wrong, my life wasn’t the worst. I was a gentrifier, living in one of those newly renovated townhouses in the midst of a dump. My partner and I had created a cozy home, filled with plants, warmth and intention.

But as soon as you stepped outside, it was a different story.

Trash piled up on the sidewalks. Used needles, syringes, mattresses, and old tires littered the streets everywhere.

The toxic cesspool I was living in reeked of neglect, poverty, and abandonment. It became impossible to ignore!

Whenever I mustered the courage to leave my house to go on a walk for some fresh air, all I saw were zombies—people whose spirits had long been crushed under the weight of a dysfunctional oppressive negligent system.

Almost everyone living in my neighborhood needed to self-medicate in order to show up in their worlds.

Over time, I discovered that ALL my neighbors were on some form on anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication.

“Was this where my life was headed if I stayed on the same block?” — I started to ask myself.

Miss Patricia, my neighbor, a white woman in her 50s, who had lived in her home since she was a child, was slowly losing her mind too. She cried herself loudly to sleep almost every night. Every day, I could feel the air of depression mixed with the stench of cat pee and poop seeping through our shared plastered walls.

And soon, the cockroaches from her home slowly encroached mine too.

The depression and hopelessness that hovered like a dark cloud over our neighborhood was slowly starting to get to me.

My environment felt morbid, lifeless, joyless, cold, and dead. It didn’t fit the version of life I envisioned for myself.

I knew deep down within my soul that I needed to change my environment, if I TRULY wanted to change my life.

Before Philadelphia, I had lived in a Monastic community, on a secluded 30-acre property, in a wealthy upstate New York community with 5 elderly white nuns.

Somehow, my time in Seminary searching for God and the meaning of life, had led me here — to a place with copious amounts of land for growing organic food. Chickens laying fresh eggs daily. Goats producing goat milk and cheese, and a cow.

Living here allowed me to rekindle my relationship with Nature. It gave me a window into an alternative lifestyle, surrounded by Nature, far from the hustle and bustle of New York City.

One of the most profound lessons my time immersed in Nature taught me was — plants need the right conditions to grow, thrive, and bear fruit.

In poor conditions like — bad soil, terrible weather, and inadequate sunlight, plants’ growth become stunted. And then, they die, before they ever get the chance to bear fruit.

I learned that…

Humans are just like plants too.

Humans living in poor conditions suffer from stunted growth and die before they’re ever able to realize their potential.

When I found myself living in Philadelphia a year later, I remembered the sacred lessons that Nature had taught me, prior.

I knew that if I wanted to truly thrive, I had to uproot myself from the toxic environment I was in and replant myself somewhere that could support my growth—somewhere I could actually thrive.

And so…On a cold November morning in 2020, armed with dreams of a better quality of life, my partner and I said goodbye to Philadelphia. Each of us carried two suitcases, a carry-on, and a backpack as we stepped into the unknown.

You can watch the journey below on Youtube.

Here’s How My Life Has Changed Since I Left My Toxic Environment In The US Behind

Five years later, I can confidently say that leaving that filthy neighborhood in Philly was one of the most transformative decisions I made at 30.

It gave me the opportunity to re-define and re-design my life in a way that feels more aligned with who I truly am.

Since then…

I’ve became a minimalist. I’ve shed a little bit of my American consumerist spirit. I’m no longer interested in just working, to earn, and then filling the void within, with stuff from Walmart, TJMAXX, Marshalls, Target, Amazon.. etc.

Let’s be real, all that stuff purchased with hard earned money, ends up gathering dust in a closet or a garage somewhere, waiting for your next trip to Goodwill.

Do you really need 20+ pairs of shoes, and a wardrobe full of trendy clothes that’ll go out of style in a year or two?!

Maybe, you need rich experiences that’ll enrich your spirit and transform your life. Think about it!

I’ve re-defined what matters to me in life. Slow mornings. Owning my own time. Location Freedom. Making money on my own terms through my skills, gifts and creativity. Slow Traveling. New experiences. Rich nutritious food and new adventures.

I’ve been documenting snippets of my journey on my Youtube Channel, TheXplorasDiary.

I could go on and on about some of the surface level beneficial changes like… fresher healthier food, a more regulated nervous system, lower cost of living, a slower pace of life, and an overall improved sense of wellbeing, which I’m sure many move abroad enthusiasts talk about online.

But for me, the most profound change has been THE INNER TRANSFORMATION that has come from choosing to leave the known behind and step into the unknown.

It’s been a spiritual process, an ongoing lesson in TRUST. A continuous unfolding that has required FAITH, COURAGE, RESILIENCE, and A DEEPER BELIEF IN MYSELF.

The truth is, moving abroad isn’t as effortless as it’s often made to seem online. And perhaps I’ve been guilty at times of making it look a little too polished in my YouTube videos.

What doesn’t always get shown, or talked about often, are the in-between moments; the uncertainty, the difficult days, the loneliness, the language & cultural barriers, the lack of community, all while re-building a life from scratch in unfamiliar territory.

And then there are the financial realities that come with all of that.

The moments when your plans aren’t going according to THE PLAN—when you’re running out of money and are not quite sure how you’ll support yourself financially.

It can be quite the rollercoaster, and at times, deeply dysregulating.

When my partner and I left the U.S., we had about $10,000 in savings, our laptops, and a plan to support ourselves remotely, online. But the money run out before we could even fully settle!

And instead of living the carefree digital nomad life, we spent more time working behind our laptops than anything else. We had to figure it out!

In hindsight, we were a little naive about what it really takes to sustain this lifestyle. But that experience forced growth. It stretched us. It changed us. It forced us to build new muscles and become different versions of ourselves in the process.

It’s been one hell of a learning curve!

Since I closed down my promising skincare business in the US and moved abroad. I’ve become a full-time digital writer and freelancer. I’ve created websites, done business consultations, written articles I no longer resonate with, blogged on Medium, and sold digital products. I’ve broken into the tech space as a crypto journalist, explored crypto trading, lived off crypto investments, started a YouTube channel, and fully embraced my creative nature.

Moving abroad hasn’t just been about changing locations, it’s been about personal evolution and self discovery. I’ve become versions of myself I never imagined I would be five years ago.

I share much of what I’ve learned along the path of rebuilding my finances abroad in my guide, Laptop Money , so you can save time and chart out your path with ease.

Still, I wouldn’t trade the entire experience for anything. Because on the other side of that uncertainty have been versions of me I would have never met otherwise.

So…If you’ve been feeling that pull to leave wherever you are right now, to get out there and explore new possibilities for your life…that feeling isn’t random.

It’s your soul guiding you towards your new aligned life.

Will it be easy? PROBABLY, NOT!

But, the life you want isn’t going to be built in the same place that’s been draining you, either.

I understand how daunting and challenging the process can be — leaving the familiar behind, for the unknown. Especially when you don’t even know where to begin.

I’ve created a few resources to help you think things through clearly, move with intention, and get honest about what you actually need to start building a life that feels good to you.

If you’ve been flirting with the idea of moving abroad, and are stuck in the “where do I even go?” phase; My E- Guide: A Digital Nomad and Expat’s Complete Research Guide To Moving and Living Abroad will help you think through things clearly and start planning your next move.

And if your biggest question is money—like, how you’re actually going to support yourself—Laptop Money breaks down what I’ve learned about making money online via. your skills, remote jobs and creativity.

But if you’re at that point where you’re like, “I’m ready to do this. I just need the roadmap,” you can find everything you need in this bundle; Design Your Escape: A Lifestyle Blueprint for Thriving Abroad guide.

Take what you need. Leave what you don’t.

Nonetheless, wherever you are right now, I hope you gather the courage to go after the life you want, no matter how difficult or challenging it may seem.

💬 Feel free to like, comment or share this newsletter so more Substack users can find it!

About the Author:

Hey, I’m Judith — writer, inner work and creative lifestyle design guide behind The Creative Life Path.

I create from the in-between spaces of healing, re-invention, and intentional living. Over the last decade, my life has taken me through deep inner work, spiritual exploration, and a long unlearning of what I thought life was supposed to look like — all in service of designing something more aligned, free, and alive.

Right now, I’m building a life and body of work across borders, exploring what it means to heal, re-claim creativity, and intentionally design a life that actually feels like yours.

This space is where I share the behind-the-scenes of that journey — the reflections, the lessons, and the truths I’m still learning in real time.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can stay connected:

📬 Join The Creative Life Path newsletter for weekly reflections on healing, creative entrepreneurship, lifestyle design, travel and intentional living.

🎥 Come behind the scenes on YouTube (TheXplorasDiary), where I share storytelling videos about life abroad, travel, healing, slow-living and lifestyle design.

📞 Book a 1:1 clarity call and we’ll dive into your goals—whether that’s moving abroad, building online income, or shaping your creative lifestyle.

🌀 Explore my digital guides on creating your dream life and moving abroad with intention.

💌 If something here resonates, like, comment, or share — it helps this work reach the people who are actively looking for it.

🤍 And if you’re quietly building your own version of freedom… I’m really glad you’re here.

I’ve been on a journey for over a decade now, healing parts of my broken psyche and spirit.

That journey has taken me down some wild paths: studying in a seminary in NYC, drinking ayahuasca and puking my guts out in forests with shamans, starting a plant-based skincare business from a shared apartment in the Bronx, living in a monastic community on a biodegradable organic farm upstate New York…

Closing down my promising business. Leaving my life in the U.S. behind (in the middle of a pandemic!) to move to Ecuador to explore new unknowns.

When I first began this journey of letting my heart lead the way, I never imagined I’d be living the kind of life I’m living now, or that I’d become the kind of person I am today.

I plan to delve more into that journey here on Substack.So stick around.

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These days, I get to live wherever I feel called to be, because I’ve broken the cycle of attaching my entire livelihood to one place. Location independence has been a priority of mine over the last couple of years, since I discovered the power of the internet.

And leaving the U.S. (a robust global economy) in 2020, forced my hand into figuring out how to design a life where I could earn from my laptop, skills, creativity and the internet, from anywhere in the world.

Has figuring out this path been easy?
Absolutely NOT!

Has it been worth it?
Hell YEAH!

Walking this path has been a true test of faith. Because there have been difficult moments when I’ve had to rebuild from my life and finances from the ground up.

But over time, I’ve found my rhythm. A way of creating income that supports the kind of life I want to live.

(I’ve walked the path. I know how overwhelming that process can feel, I share everything I’ve learned along the way, in my guide: Laptop Money So you can save time and avoid some of the costly mistakes I made.)

Fast forward to today…I find myself in Accra, Ghana, the place where I was born. Sitting in my parents’ living room in a t-shirt and shorts, chomping away at my keyboard.

I’ve been back here in Ghana for the past 5 months now, and the experience has been… bewildering.

Being back here in this season of my life, after having been away for nearly two decades, has been interesting to say the least. I’m navigating a lot internally; mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Returning to my roots in this chapter of my healing journey, where I’m actively learning how to regulate my nervous system and come out of living in survival mode, has been nothing short of a cosmic joke.

It’s as if Life said:
“You want to heal your nervous system and finally come out of survival mode?”
“Go back home!”

Back to your foundation. Back to where the programs for survival were first encoded within you.

What Coming Back To The Motherland Is Revealing to Me In This Season

They say our nervous systems are shaped by the ones who first held us, especially our mothers.

And being back here in the arms of my mother (mother Ghana and my biological mother) is forcing me unearth new layers of my survival wounds and my nervous system dysregulation.

I’m seeing clearly where I first learned that I wasn’t good enough unless I was performing.People-pleasing. Self-abandoning. Putting everyone else’s needs before mine, because being self-sacrificial meant I was a “good” person.

I’m also discovering how my views on life were shaped by scarcity, economic hardship and struggle. It’s been quite the challenge to maintain a frequency of abundance in a place where glaring economic disparities constantly try to override that reality.

As a woman whose foundations are rooted in a deeply patriarchal and hyper-religious society. I’m confronting the inner truth that I’ve always felt a little bit unsafe. A little bit unsure of how to be myself, fully, without fear of judgement or ridicule.

I could go on and on about the epiphanies and realizations that have been dawning on me in the chaos and silence of this season.

Maybe, the point of this season is to heal the wounds that only become visible when you return to your roots.

I’m learning that returning ‘Home’ isn’t always about comfort, but about clarity. About seeing where our patterns began, so we can consciously choose something different for ourselves.

In this season of my life in Ghana, I’m learning about how to be home without returning to survival mode.

So… Will Ghana Become Home Again?

I honestly don’t know! But for now, I don’t think so.

It’s my ancestral home. My root. The portal through which I incarnated onto this earth. But not a place where I can see myself living fulltime, all year round.

My parents live here, and it’s been beautiful to spend quality time with them as they grow older with each passing year.

Sometimes, I’m torn between being here with them, and frolicking around the world chasing my dreams. And It’s a tough place to be in … especially, as a firstborn daughter, who carries an unspoken weight of responsibility on her shoulders.

Still, I’m grateful to be spending this season of my life healing here in Ghana.

And I think that’s the beauty and power of designing a life across borders.

Every country offers us something uniquely different: different lessons, different versions of ourselves and more clarity on what we want for our lives.

The United States … gives me access, ease, and convenience. My U.S. passport opens up the world to me.

Ecuador… regulates my nervous system in ways I’d never imagined was possible, because I can afford to ground, heal, breathe, live and create.

And Ghana, gives me physical community and a connection to family and friends.

I’m grateful for the spaciousness and the freedoms I’m creating in my life, and for the ability to design a life that feels fulfilling.

(I’ve been documenting different seasons of my journey on Youtube. You can check it out in the link below. You’ll find videos on life in Ecuador, the journey of becoming and a few videos on Ghana)

If you made it to the end. Thanks for reading and…

Welcome to The Creative Life Path.

This is a space where I explore what it really means to become; to heal, to unlearn, to redesign your life from the inside out.

Here, I write about healing, self-discovery, creativity, entrepreneurship and the practical side of what it looks like to build a life of freedom, across borders, on your own terms.

If you’re on a similar path… figuring it out as you go, questioning everything you were taught, and choosing to live differently, you’re in the right place.

You can subscribe to follow along as I continue to share lessons and practical advice I’ve learned along the way. I promise not to spam you with too many email notifications.

Thanks❤️

I’m No Stranger to New Beginnings

In 2020, while the world was at a standstill, I quietly wrapped up life in the U.S. after over a decade of calling it home.

Living in the US had left an indelible mark on my soul. There, that timid and shy little girl from Ghana blossomed into a full blown woman.

She graduated college, spiraled into an existential crises, became deeply depressed, had a spiritual awakening and enrolled in a Seminary in pursuit of ‘God’ & the meaning of life.

She also started a plant-based skincare business, moved to a bio-dynamic farm in a monastic community upstate NY, and lived off the land.

And slowly, she began to unearth parts of herself she didn’t even know existed.

So many beautiful, messy, and sacred things unfolded during that chapter of my life.
Some of those memories, I’ll keep close to my heart forever.

When the Soul Whispers, “It’s Time to Go”

By 2020, something in me had shifted, my spirit started to feel deeply restless…

A deep, intuitive knowing began to arise in me, it said: It’s time to go…

It’s time to move on! It’s time to experience the world from another country. It’s time to jump into the unknown. It’s time to see who and what you can become in a different environment. It’s time to see what will happen if you move reverently in the direction of your dreams - of building a life that aligns with your interests and passions.

It’s time to go in pursuit of your personal legend.

As you can imagine, explaining this to family was damn near impossible!

Leave the U.S. — “the best country in the world” — to go live in Latin America? Who does that?

To everyone in my life, it seemed like I was “hustling backwards”, and even throwing my life away.

But my Love understood. He felt it too. That unshakable nudge toward something new. And so, we listened.

We sold what we could. Gave away the rest, and downsized our entire lives into two suitcases, a carry-on, and a backpack each.

On a cold November morning in 2020, at the crack of dawn, we made our way to the Philadelphia International Airport to begin our great journey into the unknown. The destination - Ecuador!

…It’s now July 2025, I’m reflecting and writing this letter from my bedroom overlooking the mountains here in Cuenca, Ecuador. Candle lit, incense rising gently in the air, soursop tea on my side-table, as I type these words from my keyboard….

Whew! I made it!

I’m living the life I envisioned was possible… slow mornings, in a gorgeous and affordable city in Latin America, mostly working for and on myself, following my passions, experiencing other cultures, leveraging my creativity to serve the collective and opening up online income streams for myself in the process.

Has it been an easy straightforward path? I’ll be the first to tell you - HELL NO!

Perhaps, if I knew how challenging the path would be, I may have succumbed to my fears and not have embarked on the journey at all.

If my current self could advise my past self from 2020, she’d say….

Leaving the US and moving abroad won’t be as simple and straightforward as you think it’d be.

Everything that could go wrong, will go wrong! You’ll face unimaginable challenges.

You’d loose thousands of dollars.

You’d take an unexpected detour to Jamaica where you’ll live for 4 months.

By the time you arrive at your final destination in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, you and your partner would have a total of $80 dollars combined. You’ll freak out!

You’ll have to re-build your life from scratch, a few times you’ll begin from $0.

Just when it may seem like you’ve run out of money, miracles will occur. Earth angels will appear out of nowhere to help you.

You’ll enter a new level of survival mode and be forced to birth new versions of yourself.

You’d step into new identities - a Techie, Writer, Artist, Youtuber, Filmmaker and Guide. You’ll expand and become so much more.

And during moments where it may seem like all hell is breaking lose - Do Not Despair, because life is teaching you to TRUST THE PROCESS.

Instead, focus on what you can learn in those difficult moments. Those experiences will transform you into a new version of yourself.

On Beginning Again…

As you can tell by now, I’ve become somewhat mastered the art of beginning again. I’ve had to begin again — and again — and again, I’ve become less reactionary to the process.

I’ve had to start life over again in multiple foreign countries. I’ve had to make career pivots under immense pressure. I’ve had to let go of what no longer fit and dive head first into the unknown with no parachute on. I’ve had to re-build a whole new life from the ground up, brick by brick!

Believe me when I say - it’s been an exhausting, yet, rewarding process.

I’ve had to expand my sense of self and wear many hats along the way — blogger, digital entrepreneur, crypto writer, freelancer, YouTuber, storyteller. All in search of alignment, purpose and passion.

Each shift stretched my heart open a little more.
Each beginning asked me to trust the process, to keep showing up, even when I didn’t have it all figured out.

And through it all, I’ve come to embrace the quiet power of beginning again.

It’s not easy. Believe me - I know!
Beginning again can be humbling, uncomfortable, disorienting, ungrounding, and even painful.

But through it all - you’ll expand and grow into a more powerful version of yourself.

The journey will stretch you into new shapes.
It will demand that you to leave your comfort zone as you dive into the unknown.
It will show you just how resilient, powerful, creative, and capable you really are.

And maybe, most importantly, the journey will teach you how to become an Alchemist in your own right. It’ll teach you to transmute challenges that will arise along the journey, because CHALLENGES WILL ARISE! They’re an inevitable part of the process.

I’ll leave you with two quotes that have anchored me in difficult seasons, both from one of my favorite books, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

If this resonated, I’d love to hear from you: what chapter are you beginning again? Leave a comment below.

🌿 Keep Up with Me

Right now, I’m in a season of expressing my voice, sharing my art, and offering my creativity to the collective in new ways.

Here’s where you can find me and my offerings:

📹 YouTube — Cinematic vlogs on slow living and life abroad

🌍 Moving Abroad Resources — Digital guides for starting over in a new country

💻 Book a 1-On-One Call with me — Get support & clarity on your creative, immigration or expat journey.

💌 Substack — and of course, subscribe below to receive gentle letters from me. I won’t flood your inbox — I’m aiming to write a few times a month, sharing what I’m learning, unlearning, and becoming.

Thanks for being here again. Truly.

Ciao.

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