Learning to enjoy your own company has to be one of the hardest but most important life lessons you can learn. Especially since constantly surrounding yourself with people and finding a partner is so romanticized in everyday media. You face feelings and emotions you have been distracting yourself from. You don't know anyone so it's up to you to put yourself out there. Learning to embrace the solitude rather than wallow in it, and delve into the feelings that surface when lonliness creeps up on you is something that will follow you through the rest of your life. In this way, solo travel is very healing. You experience things you had no idea were just beneath the surface. And you start to notice small positive changes in yourself when you address those feelings and emotions. And when you start challenging the thoughts that keep you from moving forward and challenging yourself with new experiences.
There is something that started happening between where I started on this trip in Bulgaria and when I got to Athens, Greece a month later after travelling through about 4 or 5 cities. I stopped checking my GPS so often, and I stopped taking so much time to get comfortable when I first entered the city. After awhile, I noticed I was getting more comfortable with myself, my intuition, and the confidence I had to figure things out as they came up. It never occurred to me that I was capable of being resourceful with a good sense of direction. The joke has always been that Annie has a bad sense of direction. The biggest downside and upside of solo travel is being solo. You're not relying on anyone but yourself and the result is that you learn so much about yourself but also, it would be nice to share this amazing growth and these experiences with someone.
The reason that solo travel is the biggest teacher of self love is because it's the one thing that is purely about you, what you want to do, where you want to go, and you're putting you first. When you look at your life, you may say "I practice self love and self care. I take hot baths and do yoga, and read books at coffee shops and..." But be honest with yourself. How much of that is so you can refill your cup so you can be there for other people? How much of that is truly and only for YOU?!
The most effective and long lasting practices of self love that will have lasting effects are uncomfortable. They involve a lot of growing pains, and putting yourself under the microscope and seeing how you can become a version of you that you want to be. And not for others. For you! Solo travel offers all of that discomfort that expands your comfort zone and capabilities beyond anything you ever imagined.
When I left on this 4 month backpacking trip, I heard a lot of "Oh I couldn't do that. I have anxiety." Well, how do you think I healed my anxiety? I started doing things that made me uncomfortable so I could develop a stronger sense of self and feel 100x more secure in my own skin. I knew I could handle anything that came up.
I hate to tell you, but that comfort zone you're so afraid of stepping outside of? psst. It's one of the biggest contributing factors to your anxiety. And in that way, you're depriving yourself of real self love beyond bubble baths and wine and self trust so you can start establishing relationships with people outside your circle and expanding the confidence that is deep within you and you never knew you had.
Everyone, at least once in their lives, should experience solo travel. It doesn't have to be a big 4 month backpacking trip like I'm on, but there's no better gift to give yourself than to get out there in the world and learn about all the beauty it has to offer.
Travel brings so much to life, but it also kills things like bigotry, prejudice, self doubt, and insecurity. It has the potential to heal a lifetime of anxiety, depression, boredom, and cliches if you let it.
Solo travel allows you to fully embody who you really are without double standards, expectations, and the illusion of safety and comfort people have been conditioned to be so terrified of losing. If the global pandemic taught us anything, it's that nothing is truly secure or safe. Our jobs, our freedom, material things we are so attached to. It could all disappear overnight.
It's time to get out there and discover your true potential and the confidence you never knew you had <3
Love Annie xoxo
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