How to Mentally and Financially Prepare to Take a Gap Year and Have an Adventure with Your Family: An Interview with Heidi Dusek

The Mental Health and Wealth Show

What would it look like to take a gap year and travel with your family? Find out in this episode as I chat with Heidi Dusek. Heidi is known as the “Adventurous Mom” and the podcast host and founder of Ordinary Sherpa, an online community designed to inspire families to connect through simple and authentic adventure experiences. You will hear her story of family adventure, how they prepared financially and mentally, and how she faces winding down her career in order to have a gap year.

“I decided to, instead of having these external goals as metrics on what success looks like, I decided to say, what would it look like if joy was the metric.” - Heidi Dusek

“The sooner and easier you make it to get out the door and do the thing, the more likely you are to start. And that's, I think, if you can focus on starting something as opposed to finishing, you have a step in the right direction.” - Heidi Dusek

What You Will Learn From This Episode

• What inspired Heidi to take a gap year and travel with her family
• Heidi’s and her family’s whereabouts and how they face the challenge of getting out of their comfort zone
• The nuts and bolts of preparing financially and mentally for the gap year
• Heidi’s advice for parents who want to have more adventures with their kids outside of what may be viewed as traditional
• How to take care of your mental and financial health while being on the road and traveling as a family
• Making the most out of the unexpected things that happen
• The fears that Heidi faced while winding down her career in order to have a gap year and how she overcame them
• How to get started on this journey even when you feel bogged down with job and family obligations

About Heidi Dusek:

Heidi Dusek has earned the title of adventurous mom after over a decade of packing up kids and setting off on adventures near and far. She is currently winding down her career in the public sector as a Foundation Executive to take a gap year with her family to live an intentional life challenging herself to not get too comfortable or align with the status quo. Some describe her as a disruptor and an unshakeable optimist.

Her work is featured as the podcast host and founder of Ordinary Sherpa, an online community designed to inspire families to connect through simple and authentic adventure experiences. As an “ordinary” mom, she creates content to guide and support other families on their quest to live a more adventurous life. Her book, Beyond Normal, a field guide to embracing adventure, exploring the wilderness, and designing an extraordinary life with kids shares research, tools, and novel tips to integrate adventure into your daily life.

Heidi and her husband Brent, live in northeast Wisconsin with their three kids and Weimaraner dog. They spend their time skiing, building igloos, making maple syrup, and filling the gaps with hiking, mountain biking, and aim to spend as much time outdoors as possible. While they crave travel they also recognize the privilege and comforts of coming home.

Resources:

• Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• Paying Off Debt, Reaching FI, and Dealing with Online Hate: An Interview with Jillian Johnsrud
• Beyond Normal, A Field Guide to Embrace Adventure, explore the Wilderness and Design an Extraordinary Life with Kids by Heidi Dusek
• Heidi’s freebie with 50+ everyday adventure digital cards filled with ideas for unique adventures

Connect with Heidi:

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Website
• Ordinary Sherpa Podcast

Connect with Melanie

• mentalhealthandwealth.com
• melanielockert.com
• Instagram
• Support the podcast through Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/melanielockert
• Buy Melanie’s book “Dear Debt”
• Contact: [e-mail]

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