18 days ago
85
35
Posted On: July 8th 2026, 02:52 am
🇬🇧💂♂️ NOTE to SELF → LONDON CALLING: What Being a Global Nomad and Big Ben Taught Me About Personal Manifestos, Quests with Zest, and What “You Have Six Months Left” Really Means…
📆 On July 7th, when I was 22, I arrived in London, self-funded, donning:
→ my huge backpack
→ my portfolio
→ my passport
→ my crazy bob haircut
→ my one innocent self-belief
That I could bet on my own potential.
And “NEXT THING IT.”
Whatever that took and looked like.
I had just graduated and found a way to live abroad.
Through a working adventures worldwide
half-year internship with British Universities North America Club. (BUNAC)
I rallied my friend Melissa to join me.
She worked at a pub and lived above.
Me?
I worked at a printing company designing for Buckingham Palace.
Side-hustling weekends at a boutique on Carnaby Street in Piccadilly Circus where the mini-skirt was born!
We arrived at the British Museum hostel, met friends, and rented a flat at 11 Dombey Street.
The ultimate “NEXT THING-ing it” experiment. Half-way around the world.
• No job.
• No net.
• No network.
• Just grit.
Like an early reality TV show.
(My Filipino doctor father thought I was crazy!)
Every 7/7, I thank my younger self.
I look back to remember that version of me.
The bravest thing I have ever done.
Later backpacking our way through Europe. DesignMapping our own way forward.
Me.
Who figured out how to figure things out.
Like what it takes to be an Entrepreneur.
Finding your edge.
Even if I had no map or proof yet.
Grateful for that time in my life.
For that version of me.
Who believed she could do it.
And did. (And still is…)
But without the bob haircut! LOL!
The photos before social.
With handwritten → NOTES to SELF
on backs of old-school Kodak snapshots.
Sweet stories, pics, memories.
Reminders that we don’t have to leave home to dream braver.
I still see and explore the world the same way every day with clients.
To dare each other to finally see, say, and do THE ONE NEXT THING our younger self has been waiting for all along.
✨ Learn more about my global adventure of a lifetime on my Substack→ NOTE to SELF. And how I can help you do the same.
→ nextthingnow.io
📆 On July 7th, when I was 22, I arrived in London, self-funded, donning:
→ my huge backpack
→ my portfolio
→ my passport
→ my crazy bob haircut
→ my one innocent self-belief
That I could bet on my own potential.
And “NEXT THING IT.”
Whatever that took and looked like.
I had just graduated and found a way to live abroad.
Through a working adventures worldwide
half-year internship with British Universities North America Club. (BUNAC)
I rallied my friend Melissa to join me.
She worked at a pub and lived above.
Me?
I worked at a printing company designing for Buckingham Palace.
Side-hustling weekends at a boutique on Carnaby Street in Piccadilly Circus where the mini-skirt was born!
We arrived at the British Museum hostel, met friends, and rented a flat at 11 Dombey Street.
The ultimate “NEXT THING-ing it” experiment. Half-way around the world.
• No job.
• No net.
• No network.
• Just grit.
Like an early reality TV show.
(My Filipino doctor father thought I was crazy!)
Every 7/7, I thank my younger self.
I look back to remember that version of me.
The bravest thing I have ever done.
Later backpacking our way through Europe. DesignMapping our own way forward.
Me.
Who figured out how to figure things out.
Like what it takes to be an Entrepreneur.
Finding your edge.
Even if I had no map or proof yet.
Grateful for that time in my life.
For that version of me.
Who believed she could do it.
And did. (And still is…)
But without the bob haircut! LOL!
The photos before social.
With handwritten → NOTES to SELF
on backs of old-school Kodak snapshots.
Sweet stories, pics, memories.
Reminders that we don’t have to leave home to dream braver.
I still see and explore the world the same way every day with clients.
To dare each other to finally see, say, and do THE ONE NEXT THING our younger self has been waiting for all along.
✨ Learn more about my global adventure of a lifetime on my Substack→ NOTE to SELF. And how I can help you do the same.
→ nextthingnow.io
Comments (35)
4 days agothecharmingbutterfly
Wow a global nomad I love this!! So inspirational thank you for sharing!!💕🦋
7 days agobigsmilejodie
You have ALWAYS been FIERCE, my dear friend! Someone I’ve always admired!! ❤️🔥
17 days agoanima__libre
Wow!! ❤️🔥👏Thanks for sharing your story Jing, I loved this! And you were so rocking that bob!! 💖👸🏽
18 days agoldaumeyer
Omg look at shiny you! 😍 you’re still shining that light in the world, just with a diff haircut.
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