Th US of 1980’s was much like a place where people were brainwashed and that’s what happened to Liz Proffitt Lemarchand when she grew in the white middle-class people of America. Liz grew up with the only objective – to earn money. She worked hard in her school days and got a job after that. This path was supposed to bring happiness in Liz’s life and by following this path she got everything except happiness.
At the age of 23, Liz was working almost 60 hours a week in a company of Washington D.C. At that time she realized that the lifestyle she was living was too mature for her age. That two years of working in the multinational company bashed all her aspirations to turn the political system of US and turned her from a local political science graduate to a disappointed and bored lady.
The turning point of her life came when she was sitting in her house on Sunday and was thinking about the dreadful Monday. During those frightful moments, she staged her kidnapping to have some days off. And then she felt that she was cheated through her whole life. Since her childhood, she followed the American dream, work hard, earns more and be happy. But that wasn’t the case with Liz, and she badly needed a change.
Many of her friends were burning the midnight oil to prepare for their early retirement and at that time she had no other choice but to follow the routine of her friends. But she couldn’t wait that long to enjoy her life. At that time, many people advised Liz to find a husband.
And that was logically the next phase in her life. But as soon as Liz read Rosanne Knorr’s Guide to Running Away From Home , she made her mind straight away that she need to move away. She was keen on traveling and since her childhood traveled a lot on family vacations. Liz always dreamt of experiencing different cultures, discovering new places and meeting new people.
The American Dream couldn’t provide her with the happiness she was looking for and she needs to do something radical to spend a satisfied life. And for Liz, leaving her country for another one was the most radical things to do. This was the most significant part of her life and she knew that if she didn’t stick to this decision, she would end up regretting all her life.
After sharing this idea with her friends and colleagues, Liz got to know that there were many people who opted the same in past and that’s what gave Liz the vote of confidence. And finally, she was able to choose her destination after hearing a lot of success stories.
She chose the Virgin Islands as her destination as she heard that one of her friends was moved to the same place and was making more money by teaching tourists swimming than he did by his previous officer job.
That was the thing that motivated Liz to move to the Caribean place. After that, she gave her 2 weeks resignation to her boss and then she moved to Guadeloupe, an island in West Indies. After few days, Liz was sitting on the airplane, watching palm trees and fields of sugar cane as she landed on the island.
According to Liz, the day she landed there, was the most soothing and liberal day of her life. Her friends and family members fully backed her decision as they thought that she needed a year traveling but that one year turned to 20 and she never came back.
Liz traveled to North America and different islands of West Indies from Guadeloupe before she finally settled in Europe. The decision was never an easy one, said Liz, but she was happy as it was her own decision. Her mind changed a couple of times to move back to the US but she never took that feeling serious.
Liz learned a lot by living abroad as she met new people who taught her how to find happiness in long conversations. The most important thing that she learned living abroad was, “life is not about race and color”. Liz’s life in abroad was like a circle, work was important for her but also friends and personal happiness.
