149. The Courage to Begin Again: How Jackie Das Rebuilt Her Life Abroad

I think at some point all of us have fantasized about what it would be like to leave everything and start over with a clean slate. I know I have. 

But not many of us actually do it. 

Let me introduce you to Jacqueline Das who at the age of 54 realized that her life no longer felt like hers. There was so much more that she wanted to do and experience so she made a bold midlife pivot  to leave everything and move across continents to Budapest to start over.   

 

After moving, she took a full year “off” — no job, no safety net, just space to breathe, explore and re-center. She calls her gap year  the most transformative time of her life — giving her confidence, resilience and a renewed sense of identity.  

In this episode we dig into what it means to step out of your comfort zone mid-life, learning  to trust yourself, and how to embrace the unknown as fertile ground for transformation. 

We also talk about the gifts of getting out of you comfort zone and what she has gained from this experience:

• • A broader worldview — immersing herself in a new culture, making friends, building community among people she initially didn’t know and didn’t speak the language.
  • Adaptability and what she calls “FIO” — “Figure It Out” — skills that forced her to get resourceful and rise to unknown challenges. 
  • A deep re-connection with self-belief, confidence, and freedom. As she says: “the more we get out of our comfort zones, the more confident and liberated we feel.”

If you’ve ever asked, “Is this all there is?” or “What if I started over?” — this conversation may just give you the courage to try.