When that leap becomes your life

by Maria Burke (Ireland)

A leap into the unknown Ireland

I pushed the small envelope hastily through the metal letterbox of the real estate’s office. With a thud of keys collapsing onto the floor inside, the realisation and finality of what I had just done surrounded me like a great cloud of smoke, blurring my vision and sense of reality. I took a step back and watched as people sauntered passed me on the main little street, chattering about life events; tired and hungry school children slouched in the bus stop blasting the latest rock pop artist of the week from their headphones, unaware of the goings on from the world outside their teenage lives. It was this moment I knew I would never be back in this part of the world ever again. In that second, I wanted to bundled it all with me, I wanted to shout out loud (not quite sure what I wanted to shout) I was taken a mental picture of all the places I so often would visit throughout the week. But now I stand with just my few possessions. Job terminated, furniture sold and house keys returned. It wasn’t supposed to happen to me. Not this lifestyle. I was meant to do what everyone else in my small little town does – work in the local factory for 35years, work every hour made for you and retire at a fine age of 65. Once my brother got in, surely it would only be a matter of months before ‘destiny’ would call me for an interview and my life would be sorted. But I didn’t want that life. So I became a teacher. Now don’t get me wrong, I did and still do love teaching. When I’m teaching a room full of enthusiastic and innocently eager students I become enthralled by their love and simplicity of life. But it was also this job that made me feel like I was missing out. It has taken time but I realised after 6 years teaching, I need to see more. I need to do more. Being told you have to work Monday to Friday, you’re in this classroom, morning to afternoon and then have after-school meetings and after-school ‘voluntary’ activities. It all became too structured and very similar to the job I tried to avoid back in my home town. Through some reading and research, I began to realise that there are people living the lives they actually want to live. It may seem silly to say but where I’m from you go to work, you pay your bills, you eat and repeat, whether you like the job or not. We are thought to stick with it and it will eventually pay off. It wasn’t until my dad suddenly passed away in his early 50s that the wheels of my thoughts began to take motion. He passed before he got to enjoy his retirement days. He was following what others were doing in our town, was sensible with money and was waiting for that fine age of 65. But having never reached it, I grew so angry at the whole world. He waited and waited and never got to experience the wonder and awe of the world we occupy. Our lives are too short to just wait. We can’t put the world on pause. Therefore, I did what I thought I needed to do. Take a leap into the unknown. The sweaty palms and nervous belly turns to exhilaration and amazement as I venture from place to place. I’ve seen the wonderful sights of the Rockies right down to having a Mariachi Mexican band playing to me whilst I have lunch. I’ve sand boarded through the Dubai desert and had a massive nosebleed while on the Eiffel Tower. It’s been an amazing leap and as the years go by it’s not so much the unknown now, it’s our world. Our world to go live and explore.