It was September of 2018. I was in my last semester of college at UMass Amherst. Usually people graduate in May, but I was graduating a semester earlier than I was “supposed to” (whatever the heck that means), so naturally, I was trying to figure out what my time would look like during the eight months off between finishing school and starting my full-time job.
At the start of my Fall semester, I knew two things and two things only:
I wanted to go abroad on a service trip
I had no money to do it
“Alright, Taylor, things are looking up!” I said to myself (I talk to myself all day long, which is healthy… I think 😬).
The good news is: practical reasoning rarely slows me down when desire exceeds the rational part of my brain, which you could say is reckless and risky. I say it’s what keeps me going.
Anyway, I found myself in the Study Abroad Office at the beginning of September, asking the woman I was working with if there were abroad programs that were centered around community service. I thought, “I’ll just take out a loan to study abroad and pay it back when I’m working like a dog next year.”
Unfortunately, though, the Abroad Officer politely informed me that there weren’t any programs with dedicated service structures. Her alternative suggestion was that I could go abroad and find service opportunities on my own.
“Not gonna cut it, Sharon,” I thought to myself.
However, Sharon (pseudonym, don’t worry) proceeded to tell me that there were companies, separate from abroad programs, that specialize in community service and that had a range of different locations, projects, time frames, and excursions to choose from.
“Now we’re talking,” I chimed back in.
Everything that Sharon told me sounded dreamy and hand-crafted for me.
Traveling to a new country? Yes please.
Working with locals on the ground? Sign me up.
Meeting people from all over the world? Mentally, I’m already there.
But there was one small problem… the cost.
Thankfully, Sharon was really gung ho about me going on this trip. She listed a bunch of different ways I could fundraise to cover my expenses, but at the end of the day, none of them were routes I was comfortable taking.
After our conversation about how many thousands of dollars it was going to cost me to go on a service trip with a dedicated company, I was caught between throwing in the towel and accepting that I would never come up with that kind of money OR trying my dang hardest to figure out how I could go.
Remember what I said about the practical part of my brain never slowing me down? I told you it’s what keeps me going… and that’s what it did.
I spent so much time thereafter doing research on the trip that I wanted to take. I looked up pictures of the location, reviews of the company, their Instagram account. I talked about it with friends and family and anyone who’d listen. I looked up flights to and from Nepal, dreamt about what it would be like once I got there, read articles online about the Himalayas, monasteries, hikes, and so much more. I poured my heart and soul into going even though I hadn’t booked a single thing. I acted like that trip was mine before it ever was.
And the kicker?
I wrote daily as if I were currently in Nepal, already on the trip. I never said, “I wish,” or “I want”. It was mine. I claimed it. I had it. I embodied the feelings of what that time would do for me before I ever put a deposit down or verbally committed to it.
At the time, I had no idea that I was manifesting. I don’t think I knew what manifestation was, but boy, oh boy, did my soul and body know what to do without my cognitive processes getting in the way. Genuinely, I owe my god damn life to that intuition of mine. Even when it’s felt wrong or weird as hell, I’ve trusted it knows what I myself don’t.
All this goes to say that a few weeks later, with motivation and passion still running through my veins to go on this service trip but no way to pay for it, I woke up the way I did every day in my senior year apartment— on a small twin sized mattress in a room I shared with one of my best friends.
Except, that day, I also woke up to a manifested miracle.
I kid you not, that morning I opened my bank account at the ass crack of dawn, before I jumped out of bed to catch the bus for my 8am class, and my jaw hit the floor.
Thousands of dollars, and I mean thousands of dollars, had been deposited into my checking account over night.
Now, I’m not here to detail where the money came from (just know it wasn’t because I started dealing drugs), but long story short, that money was my money. It wasn’t something I had to pay back. It was legal. It was real, and it was meant for one thing— to go on a service trip abroad.
The next day I called the representative I was in touch with from the company, put down a deposit, secured my spot in the program, and thanked my stars for aligning.
My trip to Nepal shape-shifted my entire reality. It genuinely changed the trajectory of my life, and I can confidently say, I would not be who I am today if I didn’t go on that service trip for four weeks. It’s that simple.
But I also believe that I was always meant to go to Nepal and mentally absorb that entire core-shaking experience. That it was always in my cards, on my path, meant to be part of my story.
I know this ordeal may seem fake or unbelievable. That I’m bending the truth a bit for whatever reason, and it’s fine if you’re skeptical. If I didn’t believe in manifestation, I would be skeptical, too. But the truth is, I’m not interested in convincing anyone of the validity of my experience. I’m solely here to say that manifestation is one of the most powerful tools for you to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
More so, though, I want to stress that most times, manifestation requires A LOT more than just thought and written entries. It requires action, alignment, work— a lot of work— but this story isn’t meant to detail all the ins and outs of the mechanics behind manifestation. It’s meant to stress that your desires and yearnings simply start with a thought, one singular thought, and commitment to that thought is what incites fruition.
With all that said, if you’re ignoring your desires, if you’re tapping out of high vibrational frequencies, and if you’re letting the practical voice in you dictate your decisions, you’re missing out on your best life. I mean that whole heartedly. Life isn’t nearly as cool when you’re low, rational, and unhappy. Only a whole lotta shit goes on in that space.
So, to wrap this post up, I want to say one thing and one thing only:
What you want is really the universe telling you what wants you.
Chase after it. It wants you to catch it. I promise.
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