Being remote is awesome, especially here in Mexico, but it’s not all tacos and tequila.
Working from the road can be incredibly challenging - especially when you hit sudden and unexpected setbacks. And a few weeks ago, I hit my biggest one yet.
For me, work isn’t just work. i help my clients fulfill their dreams. And in turn, they help me fuel mine. So how I serve my clients while traveling full time is so very important to me. So, when the time came to add a full time team member to help run my agency, I poured my heart and soul into find the perfect person.
I spent a month interviewing candidates, made an offer to an outstanding woman, and on-boarded her virtually for over two weeks. I then drove across four states from South Dakota to Colorado to welcome her to the team and introduce her to our clients.
I sent gifts to all our part time team members and interns, thanking them for all the wonderful service, and wished each other well. It felt so nice to finally have a new member of our family, and to finally have things in order before i took off for my next journey in Mexico.
With a new team member at the helm, and week’s worth of work under her belt, I got on a plane, flew home, and spent an afternoon with my family for the first time this year. And for the first time in what felt like forever, I kicked my feet up for a moment to relax and reflect on what life would actually be like living abroad finally having the support I needed.
And then, the unexpected happened.
I opened my laptop to an email from our new hire saying she was resigning immediately, without notice, for personal reasons, and she was never to be heard from again. This experience was like a blow to the chest with a baseball bat. I just couldn’t process what i was reading.
It was like learning the twist at the end of fight club and feeling overwhelmingly confused and disoriented. How could this have happened?
So, instead of celebrating my journey with my friends and family, I spent my entire three days back home picking up the pieces and trying to sort out how i failed. And instead of launching my documentary on following your dreams in life and enjoying my first experience of life abroad, I spent my first three weeks in Mexico sitting in my room shouldering the work of our entire agency.
I know in the big scheme of things, it will all work out fine. We’ll have a new team member dedicated to our vision come along and everything will have worked out for the best. But it is still something i will struggle with for the time being and feel its pain for a while.
Dr. Seuss once wrote “I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.” And he was right. We all experience our own struggles in life. they sort people. it’s up to us to decide how those struggles will define us, and how we meet the challenges that life throws as us.
So, yes, working remote is awesome and I couldn’t be happier for my next chapter here in Mexico. But it’s not all tacos and tequila.
There are struggles sometimes.
And the struggles are real.