The sun was shining in the clear blue sky as I wandered along a footpath, past a gurgling river overrun with bamboo and vines and trees possessing the most vivid green leaves. Six months had flown by in the blink of an eye, and every day, in every way, I had gotten better and better. My life had rearranged as if everything were rigged in my favor.
"Buenos dias, Senorita," the construction workers nodded as I walked past them in my long, flowing summer dress and straw sunhat. My skin was bright and glowing from the regular sunshine, sleep, and sweat. I'd chopped off my long hair and dyed it bright blonde, so it fell just past my collarbone ("Every great transformation involves a haircut," my sister had said).
I was back in Medellin, walking down the hill towards my favorite Sunday brunch spot. As I fiddled with my Spotify app, the words of a Macklemore song began playing in my ears.
You know I'm back like I never left
Another sprint, another step
Another day, another breath
Been chasing dreams, but I never slept
I got a new attitude and a lease on life
And some peace of mind
Seek and I find
I can sleep when I die
Wanna piece of the pie, grab the keys to the ride
And shit I'm straight
I'm on my wave, I'm on my wave
Get out my wake, I'm running late, what can I say?
I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave
And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name
So when I leave here on this earth, did I take more than I gave?
Did I look out for the people or did I do it all for fame?
Legend, it's exodus searching for euphoria
Trudging through the mud to find the present, no ignoring us
Got 20,000 deep off in the street like we some warriors
My mama told me never bow your head, woo!
I feel glorious, glorious
Got a chance to start again
I was born for this, born for this
It's who I am, how could I forget?
I made it through the darkest part of the night
And now I see the sunrise
Now I feel glorious, glorious
I feel glorious, glorious
Macklemore
"Hola Eddi!" I sang as I approached a man and his toddler sitting on a brick wall by the river, selling candy out of a little briefcase. Eddi leaped off the wall and started doing star-jumps with a huge smile on his face. I laughed, and as I walked past, he gave me the usual high five and a fistbump.
"Nikki! A dónde vas?" he asked. "Vas al gimnasio hoy?" Where are you going? Are you going to the gym today? I normally walked down the hill every morning in my workout clothes, except for Sundays. Eddi loved miming dramatic bicep curls and aerobics moves whenever I walked past. He's such a goofball.
"En la tarde," I replied. "Voy a desajunar ahora."
I waved at Eddi's son, who toddled over and handed me a little pink flower. "Gracias, Eddi pequeño. Es muy bonita."
My Spanish had improved since my last visit. I'd spent the past month doing two hours of Spanish every morning with a private tutor named Maira. Having a lesson scheduled at seven a.m. forced me to get up and learn something new before launching into my day. It also forced me to go to bed on a regular schedule, or I wouldn't be able to focus in the morning.
As another project, I'd started researching migrant visas in Colombia, so I could stay year-round in Medellin if I chose to. I took inspiration from Zac's setup — a laid back lifestyle in a beautiful country, then long trips to Europe for the summer, short trips to the US to visit friends, and nostalgic trips to Australia to visit family.
All of this change seemed impossible just six months ago when I was lying on the floor of my sister's apartment, drowning in grief over my business. But a lot can happen in a few short months when you make a decision to save yourself.
A few days after my bipolar diagnosis, I received a message on Facebook. Rick and Brennan — my two friends from the Hotdesq program in Brisbane — were in Sydney, and wanted to catch up for lunch. I could tell something was wrong. It turns out, they were in the Belly of the Whale, too. Their virtual reality business had been growing steadily, building VR applications that developed empathy and inclusion in the workplace. As with most startups, from the outside, it looked like smooth sailing. But on the inside, shit was hitting the fan, so to speak. A sudden event placed their whole business on a precarious cliff, and it was teetering awfully close to the edge. Everything these guys had spent years building from scratch could've potentially gone up in smoke.
It was nothing too unusual, to be honest. I'd been through it before with 99dresses and watched all of my entrepreneurial friends go through the same thing. Entrepreneurs can be very skilled illusionists — in the media, they appear to be fearless warriors; behind closed doors, they're days away from watching their fragile creation crumble into dust.
"Can you help us?" Rick asked. "You're brilliant at all this strategy stuff. We loved that workshop you did for the community back in Brisbane — that was amazing! Can you do some consulting for us? We just need a little help getting through to the other side."
I'd always loved their mission, and mucking around in virtual reality sounded entertaining. I normally helped friends with strategy stuff just for fun, so I was happy to get paid for it. I needed all the money I could get if I was going to climb out of this debt.
"Sure," I said. "Wanna start this afternoon?"
A few minutes later, another thought crossed Rick's mind. "Oh, and maybe this is premature, but... any chance you want to fly to the US in a few weeks? We have to visit a client in New York, then spend some time in Washington DC. We could really use your help if you're available."
I chuckled to myself and remembered back to six months earlier when my best friends, Bryce and Pandora, had moved to New York. I had promised them I'd visit that year, but I had no idea how or when that was going to happen.
"Sure," I replied as a new idea struck me. Want to know the first step to rapidly getting out of debt? Earn in dollars, spend in pesos. "Since we'll be on that side of the globe anyway, do you want to head down to Colombia for a 'workation' over the Christmas break? Bring your girlfriends along. Priya and Erin will love it! I can check if my friend, Zac, has some spare rooms we can rent over the holidays."
Rick and Brennan's eyes lit up. Their entire team was already remote. Brennan, in particular, liked working from locations with plenty of nature, hikes and rock climbing. He'd recently come back from a three-month stint in Bali.
