Member-only story
She Changed Her Corporate Job For a Solo Bike Ride Around the World and Has Never Been Happier
Picture this: you’re at your desk, at a job you’re not exactly crazy about, and dare to ask yourself, “what would I do if I weren’t afraid?” The answer that rushes to your mind is you’d get on a bike and travel the world by yourself. So you quit your job, take a one-way flight to the place you’ll begin your trip, and never look back.
In a few words, that’s the story of Juanita Arias, the 27-year-old Colombian who completed a one-year bike ride from Vietnam to Spain in 2018. If you’re anything like us you have a million questions about the why and how of this story, so read on for the details of her astonishing journey, that by the way, is just beginning.
In all honesty, there’s more to the way Juanita decided to get on that bike. It wasn’t exactly a decision she made in one day. Like most of us, she had many concerns about should’s and cannot’s. But around the time she was fidgeting with the idea, a childhood friend passed away, and “looking back, that was the trigger that started all this,” Juanita told Mindful Feminism. “I thought to myself, ‘what are we all doing?’, we can die right now, and here we are, doubting the possibility of making our dreams come true to carry out all the ‘obligations’ of our lives.”