I wouldn’t bother travelling if I was you.
Not unless you are prepared for all of which travelling will bring up for you.
The days and weeks where the only conversations are ordering food or locating somewhere to stay. Meeting others who are travelling and they ask where you are from, where you have been and where you are going next.
Reminds me of my raving days and meeting people completely off their faces and being asked “What’s your name? Where you from? What have you done?” Shallow conversations of a passing moment in time, never to meet these people again.
About a week ago I saw a quote “When you travel you have loads of places to stay, but no real friends, and no real place to call home”.
I sat with it for a bit.
Pondered on just how much truth there is in that, and how applicable that is for my life.
When you go travelling you open up your mind and eyes to the world, learning more about who you are as a person. You have to; you are the only one you can rely on and the only person who has your back.
You realise what you are truly capable of and what you are, and are not, willing to accept in your life.
Starting sentences out loud and never finishing them, even when around others, because most of the time there is no one to reply, or you have discovered the answer to a question all by yourself.
First sign of madness?
Or the first sign of trusting yourself to know the answers to whatever it was you were asking?
Or maybe the first sign of true contentment because you don’t need someone else to hear you or answer you. All the answers we need are already within us anyway, aren’t they?
Time alone doesn’t equal loneliness, but there are times when you find something incredibly funny and there is only you to enjoy the laughter, to hear another laugh alongside with you, that would be nice.
Those moments when emotions rise up within you, and you release them through tears, it would be nice to have someone else make you a cuppa tea, or hold you in their arms, but not just anyone, that special someone; but there’s no one.
Going from a place where lots of people put their hand up to you and call out your name, to not knowing anyone, enjoyable at the beginning, but after a while can become something you miss.
Long for even.
Travelling is one sure fire way to gain inner strength and resilience. It is also a test of the mind and your own levels of self-love.
Do you neglect certain hygiene standards, or nourishing your body with the right foods because there is only you to eat?
Do you neglect your physical body by not working out, going out walking discovering new places; or simply stay in your hotel, hostel or apartment. There’s no one to go with, so why bother?
Do you neglect your levels of joy by not taking yourself out on a date or doing the things you love doing, just because you have to do it alone, or meet new people, starting the same shallow conversations over again with others travelling the world?
Are you ready for people to see you as a beggar or take pity on you, simply because they don’t understand why on earth you would carry a backpack and move from place to place all the time?
Are you ready for people to assume you are running away from something or someone, rather than moving towards something greater than they could ever imagine?
Are you ready for others to see you as someone who is homeless, rather than on an epic journey of discovering the world and themselves?
I don’t see myself as homeless. The world is my home, and my home is within me; and I will always have a home with my parents, in the home I grew up in.
Making my way to collect my home, my yacht, has triggered a lot of people. It has challenged their view of what freedom is. I can haul anchor and be gone to a new place in less than 10 minutes, not rooted to the spot and the same neighbourhood year in year out.
Are you ready to give up what others think of you, letting go of the comments, opinions and views of others? If not, don’t go travelling.
When you choose to go travelling there is a lot to consider, and not just visas, income and safety.
With the depths of growth and awareness gained into the human psyche and my own capabilities, I would highly recommend travelling.
The amount of alone time I would have, the moments of pain and loss at missing out on moments with my boys and fur babies, would I have still set off?
Absolutely.
It’s shown me areas within me, and society which need healing, as well as the global discourses around women and parenting which need changing.
Starting out on this venture of travelling the world on a rather unorthodox book tour, whilst coaching my clients online and researching for my next series of books, The Mermaid’s Guide, has shown me a lot about the people I had in my life.
Many of them have fallen by the wayside, many of them intentionally, others naturally. I am no longer willing to accept certain ideas and behaviours, and loyalty to self has become more important than loyalty to others.
Travelling can be many things.
Filled with boozy nights, random surface level human connections and lots of new experiences, travelling can help you find yourself in many ways, and not always the healthiest of ways.
If boozy nights and surface level connections are not your thing, and you are not prepared to spend huge amounts of time alone, experiencing yourself and your view of life on a whole new level you never realised was even there, then I would say forget about travelling and stick to being a tourist.
You’ll enjoy visiting the country, but you’ll never really discover yourself or the culture of the place you visited.
There is magic in the depths of your soul, and lessons to be learnt on the road less travelled.
If you don’t want to discover your inner magic or the lessons the Universe has to offer, then don’t go travelling.
Go on holiday instead.
Your comfort zone won’t expand half as much, but you’ll still have fun, and maybe the downtime away from your normal life will give you the insights you need to make changes in your life; but travelling…
Alone?
Not for the faint hearted.
And I will be spending time over the next few months as I sail to Chile creating a programme for all those who wish to travel, live location free and create income as you travel, doing what you love. So if you would like to know more, then remember to subscribe to this blog and send me a message with #locationfree in the heading.
In the meantime, I have a book to read on the beach and some swimming in the ocean to do.
Have a fabulous day, week and month and I will be back to you before I set sail on the next leg of this circumnavigation around the world.
With love,
As always,
Dawn
P.S. Things are really taking flight over here at https://www.DawnBates.com and there are a lot of new and exciting things happening, including another load of updates to this website. Why more updates? Because I am not the same woman any more, one of the perks of combining coaching and travelling, you get to evolve quickly, like REALLY QUICKLY!
Keep your eyes peeled because there are lots of interviews, magazine articles, and new team members joining me! Yep! Been working on my vision whilst I’ve been on land and one of the latest projects has been developing the 21 Day Vision Creation Challenge… Let’s see who’s hardcore enough to complete the challenge hey!?
In the meantime, remember to ‘live to laugh and laugh to live’ because it really is the only way to live.
Ciao for now, and have fun, in your way, wherever you are, always! x
P.P.S. If you haven’t already started following my adventure in photo form, then head on over to www.instagram.com/DawneeBe hit the follow button and keep up to date with my life in photos. There are more musings under each photo but either way, you get to enjoy some of my photos
