We highlight many inspirational career break stories on Briefcase to Backpack. And now you have a chance to meet some of these people in person at Meet, Plan, Go! events across the country on September 14. Visit the site to see our 13 locations, but here are a few of our hosts with their own inspiring stories.

Lisa Lubin – Chicago

Wow. You have guts.

That is probably the phrase I heard the most after I made the decision to break up with my boyfriend, quit my cushy television producing job at ABC after 10 years, and sell off most of my stuff to travel around the world solo. Most people think I am so courageous. But after 3 ½ years of circumnavigating the globe, I just feel like…me.

Honestly, doing it was not hard or scary at all. It was exhilarating and liberating. You don’t do it all at once, it happens in tiny steps. Perhaps it was guts or courage or confidence, but honestly I gained even more of that after I left. The hardest part was making the actual decision, but in hindsight, it wasn’t that hard! Now that I am back, life is still here…people are still running on their ‘gerbil wheels’ toward ‘something’ and making trips to Target to buy big bags of important ‘stuff.’ Not only did I not really miss ‘life’ while I was gone, I was instead in the thick of real ‘life’ seeing the world.

Over the last few years, I took Spanish and surfing lessons in Costa Rica, rode through the narrow fjords and icy glaciers of the Chilean Patagonia, swam with dolphins off the coast of New Zealand, sand-boarded the dunes of Dubai, and climbed like Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai. I have also found work in many places—I served up coffee and sandwiches in a café in Melbourne, taught private business English lessons in Istanbul, worked as a research assistant at the University of Cologne, and did some English voice recording for a publishing company in Berlin. All the while documenting my on my blog.

If you are thinking of making a life change, a career break, or a major trip, then good for you! Don’t put it off for tomorrow, because something will always come up to get in your way. And there are very few excuses that really fly. I have met many people traveling who had lots of possible ‘reasons’ that would stop them: pets, spouses, children, careers, homes, cars, lack of funds, on and on. Where there’s a will…there’s a way.