Why I am choosing to become Location Independent

Happy New Year and welcome to my new website Suitcase Full of Wine! It seemed like an appropriate title seeing as I’m addicted to travel and love wine. I’m also a fan of organization, so I figured my first blog post should start with a bit about me and introduce why I’ve started the blog in the first place. Make sense right? So here goes!

I’m Jocelyn Clark, travel-lover, wine enthusiast, and foodie at heart, whose dream is to be location independent so that I have the freedom to explore those loves whenever and wherever I want.

If you are anything like my friends and family, your first reaction is “huh? What does that mean?”. My definition of location independent is being free to travel and live where I want, when I want, without having to worry about how to work locally. Basically, if I want to spend time with my new baby niece, I can do that. If I want to immerse myself in the French language in Paris, I can do that. If I want to flee south in the winter, I can do that too. No more relying on a week or two of vacation a year to do everything I really want to do. Everything that truly makes me happy. Since I’m unfortunately not rich, in reality that means that I need a way to make money that allows me to work remotely, whether that be a job through a company or working for myself.

The next question I’m always asked is: “Why?”.

If you had told me 5 years ago that this was what I would want, I would have been just as skeptical as my family and friends are now. I had a high-flying career in international insurance, was living in places like London and Manhattan, traveling the world on a whim, and eating out every night. Why would I want to give that up?? I mean sure, I worked long hours, but who didn’t? And I was tied to my blackberry all hours of the day and night… and during vacations. But, it was worth it, right? I was living the American dream. Right?

Then my world exploded. In July 2012, my 62-year old dad was diagnosed with Stage 4, Esophageal cancer. The C word. The one we dread. The doctors had no hope. Boy did he show them… for a while. After a year of treatment, he beat the cancer into remission for a whole 6 months. But then it was back with a vengeance. As my dad battled cancer, and my grandmother dealt with dementia, my mom was holding everyone together. I decided it was time. Long weekends were no longer enough. I wanted spend as much time as possible with my family. So in April 2014, I gave my notice, found a new renter for my Manhattan apartment, packed my whole life into a 12 foot U-Haul and drove home to Maine.

Through all of this tragedy, I had a realization: there is more to life than work. As my dad mentioned repeatedly, this was not how he planned to spend retirement. He had ideas for fixing up the house, traveling, and gardening. All of those basically went out the window when he was diagnosed with cancer. So I’ve decided that I’m not waiting for retirement to enjoy life to the fullest. I’m starting now. Join me in my journey to location independence… one glass of wine at a time.

Have you heard of the term “location independent” before? Do you think people can actually manage to become location independent? Please comment below or contact me via email at jocelyn@suitcasefullofwine.com!