Around the time I started planning my sabbatical, I had shared with my partner my idea to expand my personal blog to focus on community development and the intersection of tourism and sustainability. One evening, while browsing the internet, I learned about a book by Australian philosopher, Peter Singer, titled The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty. The book spoke about effective altruism and how we, as individuals, can make intentional choices that increase our impact in this world. It spoke to our collective role in the mission to end poverty and how much was still to be done. One part of the book specifically resonated with me, “If you are paying for something to drink when safe drinking water comes out of the tap, you have money to spend on things you don’t really need. Around the world, a billion people struggle to live each day on less than you paid for that drink.” Singer’s words echoed in my soul and the term altruism, simply defined as the selfless concern for the well-being of others, went on to become the inspiration behind the title of my blog and business, The Altruistic Traveller.

At the time, travel writing was starting to become more popular. However, I didn’t want the blog to be just another travel blog. I saw an opportunity to educate others on how they could have a more positive impact on the people and places they visited.

Over the course of the last seven years, the blog grew from a personal writing platform, into a resource website, a podcast, and then became the inspiration behind my first book, ‘Soul Truth’ – a story about the journeys we take across borders and within.

These seven years of travel, both outwards into the world and inwards into the chambers of my own intrinsic ecosystem, have been some of the most transformational of my whole life. Had I not listened to my heart all those years ago, had I not given up my comfortable seat in the corporate stockade or walked down a path not paved for my feet to tread, I may have ended up somewhere else. It’s only when looking back that it all makes sense.

Know your ‘Why?’ Listen to the inner voice and ask why you want to start this business. Does it come from deep passion, does it come from truth. Or does it come from a desire for money or to be better than someone else. There is a beautiful word in Japanese called ‘Ikigai’ – It means your ‘reason for being.’

Oftentimes, in the corporate world we are placed into a box and asked to be something we are not. This creates a great disconnect from our true selves because we can become lost and forget our true nature, or what is truly important to us.

When we tap into that inner world, we can learn about intuition and know what really guides us. The rest comes naturally when you make decisions that stem from the heart.

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