When is the time right to pursue your dream?

I have been flirting with the idea of travel photography along with photojournalism for the past few years. I have a passport that I have yet to use, and am very anxious to do so. My goal at one time was to work hard in order to purchase my photography equipment and just take off traveling.

I am exploring the possibility of teaching English, (TESOL
certified), in order to pay for my travels and/or my stay in any country I choose. The one thing that concerned me was not having a place to come back to. Therefore, I have been trying to figure out a way to keep my apartment here in Los Angeles as I travel around the world. There is nothing like having a place to come back to.

Even though I have thought of just putting my things in storage and taking off, but the only problem with that is my having to come back at some point and find another place to live. That is not something that I am interesting in doing. I am more interested in coming home after some extensive travel and putting together a portfolio of my work and write the stories I have been journaling while traveling. In order to do this I have also been researching travel writing and travel photography, but the market is quite narrow and the competition equally as thick. It is still something that comes to mind quite often.

I am in a place in my life where I feel as though I can make this happen. I believe this is because I am older with a great deal less responsibility than before. I have raised my daughter, who is going to graduate from college in another year. Even though she still needs me, it is just not as much as before. The only other concern is that I am getting older when health insurance and retirement becomes an issue. These are not things that will stop me from stepping out there to fulfill my dream, because I realize that life is short and it is a possibility that I could pass on to the next life without ever needing retirement.

Also when you are doing something for a living that you are passionate about money is never the issue, and you usually live a long healthy and happy life. I am also from a family of people who have a long life span, as well as Alzheimer's. So I am not ready to give up on what it is that I want to do out of fear of the unknown.

I am also ready to do this because my own parents are getting older, even though they are in good health, I know that this will not last forever, and if things progress normally they will need me to be there to help them when they reach those later years. The key here is to find a way to make this work for me. It may be that I can't go away for more than three months at a time, returning home to work on the projects gathered while away as well as projects generated here at home. So this is something that I am working on. In about another year, once my daughter graduates from college I am hoping to be in position to do this. To take a trip, to be a freelance photographer and writer.

I am asked all the time about doing head shots here in Los Angeles, so maybe I can do some of this work as well. I am going to look into some of my options before traveling, hoping that I have some of this portrait business before leaving. I know this is a long shot, but it is worth a try, and I am willing to take that risk. What is the worst thing that can happen, I have to come back and get a job, well I will just have to do that.

I know what you are thinking. Jobs are much harder to come by these days in this disastrous economy, but I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Believe me, I am looking at every possibility of making this dream happen because this is my passion, something I believe I was designed for. I am working on testing the waters right here in Los Angeles. There are so many things here that are going on and so many things that are not talked about and/or written about and I am looking to explore these options. I will keep you posted on this progress.