That Time I Got Restless and Ended Up in India

The case for trusting your instincts on the big stuff

Photo by me, taken during a layover on the way to India

Some people conquer restlessness by reading or baking or going for a run. In 2013, my response to going stir crazy was booking a plane ticket to India to work at a rural residential school for three weeks.

Five months prior, I left my job and friends in New York and moved to Boston with my then-boyfriend. I didn’t know anyone in Boston when we moved. He knew one person. He went into an office. I spent my days freelance writing from home, the ceiling and walls shaking every hour or so as the three-year-old upstairs ran around and screamed. Eventually I migrated to coffee shops, but the streets outside were so quiet compared to New York that I found it just as off-putting as our apartment. I once sat at a table for 10 minutes on a weekday and the only sign of life outside was a woman walking a golden retriever.

So I did what any normal 24 year old would do

1. I started applying to jobs that came with offices and other humans
2. I told my friend, the co-founder of a non-profit, that I wanted to travel and volunteer somewhere before starting a full-time job again

Her response: “I’m sending you to India”