Marija Stevanovic

Community Contributor

I'm Marija (pronounced mah-ree-uh --> silent j!), and I'm originally from a small town named Mount Hope in the province of Ontario, Canada. It's a town of about ~5000 or so people, and its where I spent the majority of my life. I got into a serious relationship about 11 years ago, we got married, bought a house together, and were establishing a life in another town just about 10km west of Mount Hope. A little over a year ago, we got divorced. I should mention that I'm only 31 years old. 29 at the time of the divorce. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, but the marriage was toxic, abusive and I was suffering from serious depression which led to an attempted suicide in November 2018. 2019 was about trying to put the pieces of my life back together, and in August of 2019, I lost my job. In hindsight, best thing that ever happened to me. With a newly acquired lot of free time, a comfy severance package, and a burning desire to travel, I started what will from then become a series of travel excursions, which began with a trip to Ireland and the UK, followed by a Contiki trip to Asia that literally changed my life. That trip awakened something dormant in me that I always knew was there, but that had been extinguished for a long time. It was a sense of confidence that I forgot I had. It made me realize that I am capable of doing things many people only dream of. When I came back, I decided to continue on this courageous path, and I sold my furniture, cancelled the lease on my apartment, sold my car that I had just only recently bought in May, and have been travelling since. I'm currently in Vancouver, British Columbia sleeping on the floor of my best friends studio apartment for the next few weeks. Soon, I'll be heading to Indonesia, and back to Asia where the trip that changed my life took place. I started my blog ladywanderlost.com to showcase why travel is so important to me, and how it has helped heal me during the darkest times in my life.