Carol Duval
Writer
Educator
Lifestyle Researcher
My Path
Frost's 'The Path Not Taken’ is one of my favourite poems. It asks one of the most intriguing of life’s question— ‘What if…?’
What if I’d thrown caution to the winds when deciding on uni courses and studied archaeology instead of education?
What if, as a 20-year-old rookie teacher, I’d tossed my new career aside and accepted that off-the-radar, fascinating job offered by an IBM guy I’d just met one evening over drinks in a city restaurant?
What if I’d ignored all my friends’ warnings, sold my comfortable flat in a sought-after suburb near London and moved into a bamboo hut in an eco village in Bali? And having done just that, what if I'd stuck it out for longer than a few weeks instead of fleeing in fright.
The life of this book started as a travel blog written for friends and family when my husband and I spent nearly two years in Europe, this time free of the demands of having to make a living.
However, as is the nature of journeys — and lives — stuff happens. And it seems to me that the more risks we take, the more paths we follow, the more stuff happens — and the richer our experiences.
In Trying Lives I want to set aside the WHAT IF scenario with all its hypothetical musing and rather focus on a WHAT IS scenario.
What is it like living in an artist’s cottage ? Holland at Christmas? A windswept Cornish town in the middle of winter?
And how might these experiences give me greater insight into questions that interest me about life and how best to live it?
Having grown up in Sydney and spent most of my adult life moving between Australia, the US, Asia and the UK I finally have the time to explore these questions in the company of intrepid traveller, Richard.
House sitting, pet sitting and home exchanges together with a few vacation and medium-term rentals have allowed us to travel far and wide, presenting us with plenty of character-building challenges and even more life-long friends and memories.