You may be experiencing that common problem faced by many twentysomethings, which might have even led you to this site. It’s the there must be more to life scenario. How do you know if this applies to you? Are you stuck in a dead-end job, maybe even a good job that just doesn’t satisfy you the way it should? Perhaps your boss is a complete dick head (maybe he isn’t, but that doesn’t help much if you don’t like the job anyway), combined with the common feeling that the UK is going to the dogs. Every year you pay more in tax, you seem to get less and of life, and what finally can squeeze out of the day-to-day can be strangled by the commute to work, the lack of daylight hours in winter, and the ridiculous cost of living you all face now in the UK.
I say you, not we, because I was faced with exactly the same situation, eight years in a recruitment sales job, with a succession of irritating corporate bosses stuck as a wage slave and generally not loving life the way I knew I could. It took some guts, but I did something about it. And boy am I glad I did. Xtreme gap year was founded off the back of a career break in search of something better, I took a year out to travel, and find myself as it were, and I was amazed when I discovered there are a select few who have definitely taken the right life choices, gaining qualifications like becoming a surf instructor, dive instructor or divemaster. And they are all now living the life, the one you have only dreamt about involving tropical beaches, never-ending ridiculously social good times on paradise islands.
Seems too good to be true to you? To many it does seem that way, and there the unfortunate ones who never do anything about it. But chat to any xtreme gappers like Steve and Richard (these links to videos of them discussing their experiences ) who both started on a dive master worked their way up to scuba instructor, and you’ll start to see that there is a better way forward in life. You can change your life for the better.
The trick is to take action, and do it now . Take a few years out to properly enjoy yourself before you eventually settle down and no longer have the option to do so.
You may find that it’s not so easy to take the leap and commit to a massive life change, people by their very nature do not like change, even if they’re not particularly satisfied with the status quo the unknown, or more importantly the fear of the unknown is a big enough barrier to make you sit back and do nothing. There are loads of factors to consider, things that will probably put you off doing anything at all, like the large amount of money that will be required, it might be that you have to rent out your house, forgo a new relationship, who knows what life will throw you but you have to remember the goal is to change your life for the better, and that takes a commitment from you to take action.
Most people who in role on our life changing travel qualifications, do so after serious consideration, and a bit of self-sacrifice for many months sometimes two years ahead. After all not everyone has the £7000-£8000 saved up needed to do your scuba diving instructor course or surf instructor course, the course alone can be in excess of £5000, before you’ve even added into the mix the equipment you will need in your new career (scuba diving instructors) and the money you will need to survive whilst you do your training. If you do not have any diving qualifications, then it can take seven months before you qualify, and you will need a least £500 per month to live off. These figures can seem daunting, but if you commit to save you will find one or two years down the line you are actually changing your destiny, rather than just sitting behind a desk waiting for Friday afternoon with time dragging slowly on.
It all starts with little steps, if you want to change your life for the better, very rarely can you just take the plunge one day bucket and pay for it and leave. Perhaps you can maybe you have a decent amount saved up or you come into a windfall, and you can invest that into doing something life changing, but more often than not you will have to save.
Reeces pieces
In the film ET, Elliott, the main character finds an alien in his bedroom closet. Eliot knew the alien could stay there and he had to hide them in the garage but he would not move. Getting the alien and of his closet and into his garage where he could hide him was a huge step, but impossible to do one go. So he used Reese’s pieces, small chocolate sweets to lay out a Trail for ET. One piece at a time he left the closet, down the stairs out the front door and into the garage. That’s a big deal for little Elliott, and just goes to show big things can be achieved if you break them down into small pieces. How does this apply to you? You need to take action and commit, and once you have committed stay on course and you will get there.
The first step is simply booking, there’s a small financial commitment involved, but nothing major only £100 but it’s enough of an incentive to help you budget plan commit to a starting date, even if that is a year ahead. You would only need to pay us the full balance of the course, which in some of these trips can be quite substantial 12 weeks before you go, that leaves you three months to save the spending money and flight.
It might be have to work extra hard, take two jobs or even three, sacrifice going out, sell everything you don’t need in a car boot sale but every step you take brings you one step closer to a happy life with amazing worklife balance.
As the founder of xtreme gap, I have met many people who made the commitment to change their life, and as a company we have changed the lives of hundreds of individuals many of whom are now in incredible places really loving life. We know people who work in the Seychelles as underwater videographers, dive instructors in Thailand, Honduras and elsewhere. Surf instructors who now live on Bali, with the ocean beach as their office.
If you have any questions, or want to know more about how to take action then we have to do is send us an e-mail and talk to us about your situation, everyone is unique but we know everyone can benefit from significant life change for the better.
I wish you all the success in discovering what incredible opportunities lie out there for you, and hope one day you might travel with us in search of a better life.
