To be the daughter of the owners of Happy Mango Beads, is to be a well-traveled gal.  Not only have my parents picked up a travel bug and put it in my pocket, but they have also shown me a way in which one can make travel a lucrative business.  Happy Mango Beads was formed on the basis of a love for beads, but also a love for travel.  The beads we purchase from around the world directly support the communities that we visit.  When I was quite young, my parents would take myself and my sisters often to Guatemala, Indonesia, in addition to many other countries.  At the time I thought, why can’t we just do the ‘normal’ family vacation to Hawaii and call it day?  It wasn’t only the import business that brought us abroad, but also my parent’s desire to show us girls what the world was all about, introduce us to other cultures, and demonstrate that America only constitutes a small portion of the globe.  (photo: Emily with market vendor in Sapa, Vietnam)

These experiences have dramatically shaped the woman I have grown into and given me a greater appreciation for the world and cultures therein–an invaluable lesson.  I remember the first international trip I took without my parents.  I was on a flight to Santiago, Chile to spend five months with a local family in Valparaiso.  Scared, apprehensive, excited, curious, and a multitude of wonder filled my body.  It was awesome, some of the best months of my life.  Further down the line, I decided I was going on a solo backpacking trip through Peru.  Also, amazing.  Planning for the next international trip has been constant ever since.  I wonder what is going on in Myanmar?  Maybe I should go there.

Recently we were approached by author and motivational speaker, Adam Shepard.  Adam recently published his second book One Year Lived in which he recounts his journey into the world, covering many countries and experiencing everything possible within that period of time.  Adam reflects throughout the book on his time abroad: volunteering, scuba diving, bull fighting, bungee jumping, experiencing exotic foods, the ‘chicken buses’ he rode in Central America, and the wonderful people he met along the way.  He also discovered a way in which he could push himself out of his comfort zone, to immerse himself in the surrounding cultures and generate a deeper appreciation for what they have to offer.  Not only is this book an entertaining read, but it is thought-provoking for the reader as well, forcing the reader to wonder what lies outside their own comfort zone.  A world traveler myself, I am delighted by Adam’s experiences abroad and I wanted to share this wonderful story with our followers.  (photo: Adam Shepard in San Antonio, Guatemala)

From late 2011 to late 2012, Shepard visited seventeen countries on four continents and lived some amazing adventures. “It’s interesting to me,” he says, “that in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe, it’s normal for people to pack a bag, buy a plane ticket, and get ‘Out There’.  In the U.S., though, we live with this very stiff paradigm – graduate college, work, find a spouse, make babies, work some more, retire – which can be a great existence, but we leave little room to load up a backpack and dip into various cultures, to see places, to really develop our own identity.”

Adam has given us the opportunity to offer the PDF of his book for free to our customers, our blog readers, and our social media fans.  One Year Lived  is also available for purchase in paperback and a variety of online formats at Adam Shepard’s website.

Download the free e-book here.  And then enrich the lives of others by sharing this blog post with your friends.

From Adam Shepard, myself, and the rest of the folks at Happy Mango Beads – we hope this has shed some inspiration to see what the world has to offer.