Skip to content

De-cluttering their lives to travel the world

“Everything we got rid of, we had no attachment to it. Like once you've decided to let everything go, it was gone and now we don't even remember what we had."

CANMORE – After selling all of their possessions, including their house, car, two businesses and everything in between, Jillian Amatt and her partner Chris DeCap completely uprooted their lives and pursued their passion of travelling.

For the past 22 months, Amatt and DeCap traveled throughout Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico and the couple hasn’t regretted it since. What was holding them back from travelling was something that everyone is familiar with – stuff.

“One evening, I was watching the minimalism documentary, which is on Netflix, and it was like this lightning bolt zapped me in the back of the head. It just made me realize that all the stuff around me and all that stuff I had accumulated in the house and the cars and everything was in the way of me traveling,” Amatt said

Amatt said she found enlightenment in travelling. She spent her younger years travelling, reveling in the pursuit of adventure and new places. Even now her wanderlust did not waiver, but as Amatt navigated life and the years went by, she found herself accumulating more and more stuff.

It wasn’t only her possessions that stood in the way. Bills kept coming in, her business – while successful – was not fulfilling. Amatt then came to the realization that she needed to change this.

“I had to tell Chris about it and it took only a few minutes to convince him that it was a good idea, not very long. Right away, we just started getting rid of stuff and the more we got rid of, the easier it became and it just sort of snowballed from there,” Amatt said.

After six garage sales, donations to local charity organizations and a trip to the thrift store, Amatt and DeCap had completely rid themselves of all their possessions.

“Everything we got rid of, we had no attachment to it. Like once you've decided to let everything go, it was gone and now we don't even remember what we had,” DeCap said.

Within a couple months, Amatt and DeCap were on a plane to Costa Rica, where they had their first house sitting gig. During their travels, the pair was also able to focus on their passion for art. In Costa Rica and Guatemala, Amatt and DeCap created murals for local hotels and restaurants, generally in exchange for food or accommodation. 

“We're happy with the thought that we could now take the time to focus on our art, focus on the things that were important to us,” Amatt said. 

“Before it was like you tried to fit your art in, or tried to say your creativity in on the side when you have time, you know, when you're not trying to pay the bills, or whatever. So pulling away from all those skills, allows us the freedom to really explore our creative side and do what's important to us.”

Amatt and DeCap have plans to travel to Morocco this upcoming January where they will be blogging about their travels. To follow Amatt and DeCap’s journey and find out more about their story, visit justsomewandering.wordpress.com.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks