When I originally started this blog, my goal was simple: share travel photos with my family and friends without having to rely on social media. Ironically, most of those photos ended up on social media anyway — but the stories behind them have always lived better here, where I can slow down and write.

Now, things look a little different.

An unexpected life event has temporarily grounded my travel adventures. My trusty passport is getting a bit of a break this year as life pushed me in a direction I hadn’t anticipated.

Over the past nine months, I went from having grand travel plans to making an abrupt pivot. After returning from an incredible journey through seven countries, I found myself unexpectedly searching for a new job — right in the middle of the worst time of year for job hunting: between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

If you’ve ever had to job hunt during the holiday season, you know it’s not for the faint of heart. Hiring freezes, out-of-office replies, and endless waiting can test your patience and sanity. But instead of panicking, I took a step back, mapped out my finances, and recalibrated my expectations.

Now, months later, I realize that this detour may have put me on a better long-term path. I’ve landed a new opportunity that’s allowing me to build career skills and experiences I hadn’t previously focused on — skills that will serve me well in the years ahead.

While the travel bug hasn’t gone away (and I still have a long list of destinations I plan to visit while I’m healthy enough to explore), this year my blog will take a bit of a different turn. For my own mental health — and to keep my creative muscles active — I’ll be writing about a broader range of topics.

Along the way, I’ve even picked up a new hobby: the art of AI prompting, which I’m using to create digital art that I’ll start sharing here. I’ve also updated the blog layout to include non-travel topics, and I plan to write more regularly on a variety of subjects — starting with a series on what it’s like to navigate a career pivot after 50.

Life doesn’t always go according to plan. But sometimes, the unexpected turns lead us to places we didn’t know we needed to go.