I'm back in sunny Brazil, which is quickly becoming my home away from home.

Here, in a small, dusty, green, charmingly animated town by the ocean, one can find an impressive mix people from all over the world. I found myself immersed in this incredible diversity of styles, backgrounds and preoccupations, which felt like being thrown on a cultural carousel - the whole world, normally so full of lines dividing people/nations/cultures seems to have shrunk to the size of a small town where lines are blurred and surprising similarities start emerging from among all the differences.

A French businessman seized the opportunity to own a "fazenda de cacau" (cocoa tree farm), producing his own organic brand of chocolate. A Dutch, former University professor, now in her 50s, used her life savings to buy a "pousada" - a small motel - right by the ocean and is now making a living from it. An Australian in her 40s, who had refused to settle down before, finally found true love here, in Bahia, and just had her baby one month ago - she and her husband own the local bakery. A Portuguese chef and passionate hand-made jewellery artist found a place here which she calls home. A lovely, highly educated young woman left a 7 year career in the largest bank of Brazil to live here, by the ocean, with the man she loves - he the manager of a small restaurant, she a waitress speaking flawless English, with a beautiful smile on her face most of the time.

Surfers, eccentric "rasta" tattoo artists, people belonging to various spiritual communities, party goers, capoeira dancers with perfectly sculpted bodies diligently practicing their art on the beach every single day mix with locals, expats and tourists from every corner of the world in what probably is the most amazing cultural cocktail that one would ever expect to find in such a small place - barely the size of a pin-tip on the map of Brazil.

What do all these people have in common? 

At first I thought it would be impossible to find a common theme, something all these unbelievably diverse people who came to live here share. I am convinced there are few, if any, topics that all these people would fully agree on. Some are convinced hedonists, others almost ascetics. Some are dreamy artists, others pragmatic businessmen. Some come from rich backgrounds, others from very poor families. Some are in their 20s, some in their 60s. Yet they all chose to leave their old lives behind and come to live here, in this natural paradise, far from the comforts of life in a metropolis.

Now I'm starting to realise that actually there is something to which they would probably give a collective nod.

It is the choice to live life differently. It is the choice to be free. Free from the treadmill that modernity had so well taught us to build our lives around.

All these people have made a choice to live their lives on their own terms, not on others'. Although there are some people here who do have a lot of money, most of those choosing to start their lives over in this place are far from rich and most of them say they no longer care about money the way they used to or were taught to. They choose to live simple lives where there is room for fun, time with friends, time for oneself.

They all seem to value freedom over money. Most have their own small businesses or, even those who are employed, make sure they have time for their passions. It's not at all unusual to meet the waiter who served you at the restaurant the other night out on the beach in his surfing gear the next morning.

They also tend to value human interactions more then they do technology. You will never see people here sitting at a table in a restaurant, each with their eyes glued to the screens of their phones and tablets, hardly speaking. You WILL see people laughing, chatting when out with friends, truly socialising.

What all these people have in common is the choice to step off that treadmill. That treadmill which teaches us that the faster we go, the harder we strive, the more ambitious our goals, the happier we'll be. Here success is not measured in money, fame or hours worked but rather in personal meaning and the fun of doing whatever you feel called to do with your life. Here being a good parent has more to do with how much time you actually spend with your child - playing, teaching her new things, watching her grow, rather than by how hard you work to build the "inheritance" you will leave behind for her. Being "successful" is more about how happy you are than how high your social status is.

Here the pressure of time is almost non-existant. I have hardly seen people on the street wearing watches. In a place where NOW matters more than TOMORROW the definition of "living in the moment" truly takes on meaning.

This does not mean these people's lives are idyllic. There are many who moved here for a while and couldn't adapt to this style of living - so few restrictions, so few new conquests to make. It's hard to live in the moment and it's not necessarily suitable for everyone.

Nor am I suggesting that people living here don't have any problems, or conflicts, or egos. This is, in fact, a place on Earth like any other inhabited by human beings. Their lives have ups and downs, highs and lows, lights and shadows. They have their own frustrations, sympathies, antipathies, gossips. They don't have many of the comforts of modern city life - like fancy cars, newest smart-phones, coolest computers, luxurious homes.

They do have almost never-ending sunshine, the murmur of the ocean and the breathtaking beauty of the Amazonian forest all around them. And they have this genuine desire to connect, to live life to the fullest, to laugh and be happy and are willing to make the choices that allow them to make their own happiness a priority, even at the cost of giving up the struggle to be "successful" in the conventional sense.

As you probably know by now, my articles are meant to inspire you and open up new perspectives, rather than to impose a certain one as being the "ultimate" truth.

I am not suggesting you necessarily step off the treadmill into the actual ocean, as these people have, but rather that you examine your own treadmill a bit closer and perhaps define your own personal Ocean.

Is that treadmill stifling in any way?

What would it take to step off it an chase your dreams wherever they may take you?

What does your Ocean look like - is it an actual ocean, a busy city of is it perhaps it's not a physical place at all, but rather a state of mind?

What is holding you back from stepping into your Ocean?

What would you do if you had nothing to fear and nothing to lose? 

With much love, from the brink of MY Ocean,

Alis