• Nabila Ismail quit her six-figure job in healthcare to travel for a year before her 30th birthday.
• He faced loneliness and doubt, but found personal growth during his career hiatus.
• When Ismail returned from his trip, he could not find a job and now runs a travel company.

This essay as stated is based on a conversation with Nabila Ismaila 30-year-old New Yorker who quit her corporate job to travel. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was in pharmacy school, I promised myself that I would take a year off to travel before I turned 30. I thought I would be installed in pharmacist career but not too anchored to let it hold me back.

When I unexpectedly moved into a six-figure healthcare job that I loved, my plan fell apart. I woke up at 28 and had no plans to travel. Then I came across an old journal entry that made me realize it was now or never.

I left my job and left two weeks later.

Travel hasn’t always been glamorous and I’ve been through a lot loneliness and lack of direction. Doubt crept into vulnerable moments and I wondered if I had made the right choice to leave my job. My career gap it changed the way I approach my career.

I had a job that I loved, but I still felt unsatisfied

After receiving my PhD in Pharmaceuticals from the University at Buffalo in 2019, I began working as a retail pharmacist in Los Angeles. It was really challenging work.

I worked seven days on and three days off and was on my feet for most of the 12 hour shifts. I didn’t have a life outside of work. On my days off, I was relaxing at home by myself and running a personal pharmacy and travel blog, which I started in 2012. I was looking for a new job when I came across a marketing position at GoodRX. I used my blog as a portfolio and got hired.

My new job was completely remoteso i started monthly rental in USA and creating more travel content on my blog.

I enjoyed working at GoodRX. Every day was unique and I loved having so much creative control, but I couldn’t fight the nagging urge to travel more. I talked myself out of it for months, scared that I would never find a job this good again. I thought I should focus on my career and start a family.

The old journal entry I wrote in pharmacy school about my meticulous plan to travel for a year at age 28 encouraged me to immediately give two weeks’ notice and commit to an unpaid leave of a year.

The timing was perfect, but it felt like a bad breakup

i had Future PTO scheduled to host my first two-week group trip vacation in Bali with traveling women. I decided that when the trip was over, I wouldn’t come home. Leaving my job was like a bad breakup. It was a really tough decision, but I knew it was my opportunity to take a risk.

I had earned a living wage from my travel content, so I felt confident that I could I can afford to travel if I remained calculated.

I went into my career break just wanting to do things without financial attachment. I volunteered as a health worker with refugees in Lebanon and learned Arabic in Jordan while volunteering as a social media manager at a hostel.

One of the most special moments was spending two months in Pakistan, where my parents are from and my grandparents live. It was really nice to nurture my sense of identity as a Pakistani-American.

There were times when I thought I had made a mistake

My travels weren’t just about exploring a place, it was about exploring me. I journaled, cried, read, and went inward, contemplating deeply what I wanted from life. Oddly enough, I missed the predictability of a full-time job.

I’m tired of planning and being constantly on the go without a home base. Every move I made required me to look up where to go, how to get there, and what to buy. I had to be constantly “on” just to protect myself. Around the six month mark, I just wanted to go home and take a break.

I told others travel alone about my overwhelm and most of them expressed that they felt the same. They advised me to stay in each place longer or go home if I needed to. I decided to stick with it and achieve my goal.

I struggled to re-engage after 12 months of travel

In my final months of travel, I started applying for full-time content marketing roles in the health and technology spaces. I didn’t hear back from any companies and I worried that interrupting my career was a big mistake.

I went home at one year, but left two weeks later for another six months of travel. I was getting more demand to host group tours and build on my travel influencer brand.

When the 18th month of travel ended, I traveled in over 30 countries and reached a decision point. I could continue to fight for a job in healthcare or lean into what fulfills me at the moment.

I decided to stop looking for jobs and turn my group trips into a company. It’s been about six months, and here I am living fully nomadic while facilitating group travel and growing my brand.

I realized it’s okay to create my own path

It was very hard for me to let go of the fact that I wasn’t going back to nursing. But my solo travels have helped me realize that it’s okay to create my own path, even if it deviates from the norm.

I also realized how often the social pressure to follow a certain formula and climb the corporate ladder they affected my decisions. Being left to my own devices has allowed me to tune into what I really want and who I really am.

One day I would like to return to healthcare in some capacity, but I am fully committed to my unconventional path and trust where it will take me.

If you’ve taken a career break from a well-paying job and want to share your story, please email Tess Martinelli at [email protected].