About

HELLO.

My name is Jill Rugen and I am a Midwest turned California girl, originally from St. Louis, Missouri. Some important things to know about me: I love gelato, I will drive three hours to see a sunset, and I often fall in love with elephants and oceans. When I was thirty-two, I moved to Los Angeles, California to be closer to the ocean. During my time in California, I worked for a well known tech startup and spent the little free time I had on the beach in South Bay or taking weekend trips to Mexico.

As far as  my personality goes, I am awkwardly endearing. And after a bit of Googling, I found an even better word to describe myself. / Adorkable: A person who has an intelligent, quirky, and random personality and combines it with being adorable, cute, or beautiful. / This is actually pretty right on to how I see myself. Not sure if others would agree. But anyways, this brings me to what led me on the path to starting this blog.

MY STORY.

To be honest, I had the greatest job ever. And I am very lucky with the amount of love and good hearted family and friends I am surrounded by back home in the States. But my heart wanted me to leave all of that for now. So I did. I don’t actually know why, but I don’t need to. One thing I have learned in life is that when you feel something in your soul, don’t let your brain talk you out of it with the hows and the whens and the whys. Because intuition is not something that often makes sense. And what else I know is that when you follow where the Universe is pulling you, you are taken to places you never ever ever imagined you would end up.

So after three years in Los Angeles, I sold all of my stuff, quit a job I loved, and said goodbye to my amazing friends and family, so that I could travel the world. I am drawn to travel not to run away from something, but to move closer to everything. Traveling teaches me things. About myself. About others. How they live. And most importantly, about how I want to live.

And while I am on this journey I decided to start this blog. It has taken me quite awhile because I don’t want to be your typical travel blogger. Although, I do want to help people travel if that is what they want to do. But what I want more is to live my life in a way that inspires others to live their best lives as well. Whatever that life may be. And what I really want is to connect with people on a deeper level. I want to use this as my journal and write about things that we all deal with. Human things. Spiritual things. Honest things. Ugly things. Happy things. Things that we all feel and can resonate with. If there is even one thing I say that gives someone a new perspective, even if that person is me, then this is all worth it.

Everyday, I strive to grow as a person and find ways to live a more fulfilling life. In order to do this, I try to continuously expand my perspective by putting myself in situations that teach me new things about myself and the world around me. I believe my purpose in life is to help others live happier lives as well. At least that is what I want my purpose to be. Through this blog, I hope to share some of my experiences with you and provide you with resources to help you live a life you are excited about. I hope you are left inspired enough to step out of your comfort zone and move closer to living the life of your dreams.

This is my story. I hope it inspires you to create one of your own.