Woman who left her corporate career to travel the world: 'The scariest thing wasn't quitting my job'
In November 2012, Clelia Mattana quit her corporate job to travel 'indefinitely.'
She left behind an established career as a sourcing coordinator at luxury fashion brand Burberry, a good salary, and her own apartment in London.
But the scariest thing for Mattana wasn't quitting her job.
It was being stuck in it.
"At some point I realized that the scariest thing wasn't quitting my job, but staying in there, wasting my years and only dreaming of a life I would never live," she told Business Insider in an email.
She was deeply unhappy at her job because it wasn't her "true nature."
"When I imagined how my life would have looked in 10 years, working in a field that didn't represent me at all, something broke inside me and I knew that I had to do something radical to change my situation," Mattana said.
So, once she made up her mind to go, she transferred over $1,000 from her paycheck to her savings for three months. She also sold some belongings, welcomed a roommate, and dialed down her social life in order to save $16,000 in five months. On November 19, 2012, Mattana handed in her letter of resignation.
"I remember the exact date because that was indeed the happiest day of my life (so far)," she said. "It represented my escape from a prison that I had built with my own hands."
Four years and more than 40 countries later, Mattana is still traveling the world.
She shares her adventures and pictures on Keep Calm and Travel and her Instagram account.