6 Signs Abroad That Challenged Me To Live A More Authentic Life

Signs that guided, uplifted and challenged me in life

One of my all-time favorite things to do when I travel is to look for signs. I love doing that because they make me believe that they are meant to communicate something with me during a specific period of my life.

There have been plenty of moments when I felt like I certainly needed to hear what these signs were saying to me. It’s as if I’m reading a verse from the Bible. They do mean a lot to me and speak so much into my soul. Some of them made me laugh, others reminded me of someone else, but all of them made me feel like I was receiving some sort of powerful message from above.

That is why I got so excited when I saw that this Monthly Challenge at Globetrotters is about signs. So, allow me to share with you some of the most impactful signs I’ve seen on my travels and what they mean to me. I hope that they touch you the same way that have done to me.

6- Thank God I’m gay sign- New York City, New York, USA.

Here’s a sign that stood out to me during my travels. This time, in NYC in 2021 during PRIDE.

As a member of a marginalized and oppressed community, I have learned to hate, oppress, and neglect every single aspect of who I am.

I’ve been taught that I am unworthy of love, and above all, of God’s love. We’re taught these horrible things by religious people who are filled with hatred and prejudice.

However, seeing that sign during Pride in NYC allowed me to unlearn all of that negativity that was imposed on me. It showed me that I have to be proud of who I am.

All I have to say is that THANK GOD I’M GAY. Yes, God has everything to do with who I am. He made me this way, and I am proud of it. I am a child of God as well as any of my straight friends. Being heterosexual is not the norm. I am part of the norm. I am as human as any other straight person that is why I praise God for allowing me to be myself!

5- Los Angeles was uplifting… Los Angeles, California, USA

If there’s one thing LA will do is to inspire and uplift you. At least, this is how I felt when I was there. The city had a similar magic and vibe that you can find in New York City. And one of the reasons why I felt so embraced there was because of the countless uplifting signs I found all throughout the city.

These two stood out to me. But if I had to pick one, the second one (The Reminder) touched me more profoundly. We all go through hardships in life, and it is vitally important to remember that we don’t have to go through them alone. Counting on a friend and having them help you during a difficult time can change everything about what you’re dealing with. So, that sign was a very powerful reminder.

4- Switzerland was ready to teach me some of life’s most powerful lessons- Bern, Switzerland

If you’ve been following me for a while, you can probably remember where these pictures are from. I once wrote an article about the most powerful sign I read on my travel to Switzerland and how it allowed me to reflect on finding myself and doing things at the right time.

These two signs spoke so much to me. They taught me that finding yourself abroad is a myth, and that, if you want to follow your dreams, it’s now or never.

3- You are not lost- Luxembourg, Luxembourg

The funny thing about finding this sign in Luxembourg is that I was in fact lost in the city. My phone was dead, and I was looking for a coffee shop so I could charge my phone and find my way back to the hotel.

But when walking past this building, I realized that “I was not lost, I was there”. This sign made me reflect on so many aspects of my life.

This was in September 2022, and I was feeling very lost in life. My visa was about to expire in Ireland and I didn’t know what I should be doing next. But those simple words made me reflect on the definition of “next”. Maybe we’re too busy looking for the next place to be, but we forget that we’re here. And forgetting that we are here leads us to think that we’re lost. This sign taught me that I should focus on “here”. If I know that I am here, I will see that I am not lost. But if I keep on walking focusing on the place I can’t even reach yet, then yes, I will keep feeling lost. So, thank you Luxembourg. I am not lost, I am here. Very happy to be here, indeed.

2- How dare Ireland challenge my boldness- Dublin, Ireland

Last year in April, I got promoted at work. I became a supervisor chef in one of Dublin’s most popular restaurants. However, in order for me to start my new role, I’d have to be moved to another unit.

Making that decision was very hard for me because I was too attached to the people and the restaurant I was originally from. Sometimes making a decision with your brain instead of your heart is very hard. I get attached very easily, so it was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. I knew it was going to be a better idea to change restaurants, but sometimes we get too accustomed to what’s good, and we forget there’s always something better. But to be able to move forward, you need to be bold.

Well, Ireland made sure to ask me if I was being bold. On the day I had to call the general manager to notify him of my decision, I saw that sign. Deep inside I was going to say no to changing restaurants, but then, that sign made me question my decision. Was I being a bold boy? The answer is no. So, I needed to take a deep breath and use my brain and not my heart to make this important decision.

Today I can see that it has been the best decision I’ve made since I moved to Ireland. Changing restaurants allowed me to become a better version of myself as a supervisor and chef without making me lose touch with my former family.

1- Time to let go… Denver, Colorado, USA

Living in the U.S. was once my biggest dream. And I’m very happy I achieved this dream. But after a few years there, I felt limited. Trapped, I should say. There was something about the country that wasn’t letting me fly the way I knew I could. So, in 2021, I felt that I needed to leave.

Living there wasn’t doing any good to me anymore. It was impacting my present, but it wasn’t allowing me to build a better future for myself. As an international/exchange student, there wasn’t really much I could do. I could not afford its overpriced international tuition so I could go to college, and living undocumented was definitely not in my plans. I was no longer flying, I was trapped on the ground feeling very hopeless.

Then, during the summer of 2021, when I was in Denver, Colorado, I saw the sign that made me question every single decision of my life moving forward. That’s when I realized that, yes, the United States was my biggest dream and it did feel like wings, but it was no longer the way it used to be. I needed to allow myself to live something bigger, so that is why I decided to move to Dublin, Ireland.

Professional, educational, and travel opportunities are broader in Ireland than the ones in the U.S. As an international student in Ireland, I have so many chances of studying, working, and advancing in my career in a lot more affordable, different, and possible ways. In the U.S., on the contrary, if you don’t have a lot of money, you can’t do much. In Europe, there are so many short — , mid-, or long-term programs that can fit in our pockets, so I realized that I could achieve more within my capabilities if I moved to Dublin.

So, the U.S. was very important for my growth as a young adult, but I knew that in 2021 it was time to leave as it wasn’t beneficial to me anymore. This is why I’m so glad I saw that sign in Denver. It gave me the courage to look for programs in Dublin and apply for them. When I look back, I can say that leaving the U.S. and coming to Dublin has been by far the best decision I’ve made as an adult.

This article is part of the Monthly Challenge at Globetrotters and it was inspired by these two incredible stories below.

Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages’s introduction is very touching to me. When she says that “small and seemingly insignificant things that happen in our lives point us in a direction”, I can think of nothing but the signs that I saw on my travels. They did point me in the right direction during the period of my life I needed to hear those words the most. So thank you for your story.

The other article that inspired me to write my story is by Kenny Minker It made me giggle a few times and I enjoyed reading it so much. It inspired me to keep my story powerful but light at the same time. Thank you for sharing your story with us.