The author watching the sunset on Mt. Malo Spicje in the Julian Alps, Slovenia.

I’m an adventure guide for an all-women’s travel company, which means I get to lead groups of incredible women on hiking, backpacking, surfing, rappelling, snorkelling and cultural trips around the world. I’ve gotten to hike the Inca Trail in Peru, snorkel in the Caribbean Sea and watch the sunrise over Petra in Jordan — all while getting paid.

When I tell people what I do for work, they usually think I’m living the dream.

But as I sit in my friend’s apartment between tours searching for my next house-sitting gig, she looks at me from across the couch and says, “I don’t know how you sleep at night.” I’m about to guide an international tour in Belize for three weeks, but I don’t even know where I’m going to live next week.

And that is the nature of this lifestyle. My life is like a roller coaster — long, hard climbs where my stomach churns with anxiety and anticipation, followed by thrilling, heart-racing drops. Meanwhile, other people’s lives tend to be more like a merry-go-round — predictable, steady or at least smooth enough to enjoy an ice cream cone while they wait for the next rotation.

But I always tell people that I didn’t choose this lifestyle; this lifestyle chose me.

It all started when I saw a flyer in my university’s dining hall: “Intro to Backpacking on the Florida Trail - $65.”

I had never been backpacking in my life, but that little flyer filled me with excitement. I signed up alone, and when I saw that the guides on that trip were fellow students — practically glowing with a golden aura as they got paid to enjoy the beautiful outdoors — I knew I was about to step on the roller coaster. I asked them, “How can I get your job?”

And that’s where my ride began — working part-time as an adventure guide at my university while earning my bachelor’s in psychology and communication. I got certified in wilderness medicine, learned how to drive 12-passenger vehicles with 12 sea kayaks attached to the back through Miami traffic, and how to create entirely new backpacking routes on the fly when a section of the trail is closed due to forest fires. At 19, I traveled abroad for the first time, getting paid to guide the Landmannalaugar Trail, a 35-mile trek through Iceland’s backcountry.

But once I graduated, I figured it was time to “grow up.”

And I tried, I really did.

After thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail at 22 for fun — a reward I gave myself after graduating — I enrolled in a master’s program for mental health counselling at Boston College. But when I saw how much I’d have to take out in student loans, something inside me screamed, NO! GET US OUT OF HERE!

On Monday, I was enrolled in classes; by Friday, I was packing all of my stuff into my car and driving to rural Pennsylvania for the season, living in a cabin on a lake while teaching elementary students outdoor........

© HuffPost