Travel as a means of finding oneself is certainly nothing new: for centuries human beings have been wandering in search of themselves, and I am sure that at least once you too have felt lost and decided that a ticket to an unknown destination was the solution.
Maybe you are thinking right now about going on a new adventure of self-discovery.
Well, today I want to give you an unusual suggestions of 4 things that cannot be missing in your backpack to make your trip a true act of self-love.
Let’s backpack and get going!
Why booking a trip is not enough to find love again
Before we talk about what will make your backpack a fun companion though, I want to tell you one thing: If you’re thinking that booking a ticket is enough to shed light on the confusion you feel and find love again, you’re wrong.
Sure, it would be great if a simple reservation was what you needed to heal your heart, but the real wonder lies in what requires commitment. Everyone has happened to go on a trip convinced it was the solution to a difficult time only to find themselves sitting on some bench in a new city conversing with the same “monsters” they thought they had left behind. The truth is that you can go as far as you want, but what you have inside knows no boundaries; it follows you everywhere.
It is not enough to book a trip to find self-love, that is true, but sometimes the trip is just what our confused heart needs.
Why to leave on a trip is not enough to find oneself:
- the conversations that take place between you and your inner monsters will be the same whether it is on your bed in London or in a brasserie in Paris.
- Changing the way we approach ourselves and reality takes time; surely a flight of a couple of hours is not enough to transform our lives.
Why a trip may turn out to be the right answer thou:
- you know too well your bed in London, and in your comfort-zone it is difficult to see things in a new way; the brasserie in Paris, on the other hand, will stimulate all your senses, leading your mind to formulate new perspectives and your monsters to change their faces.
- when traveling , time is dilated: we use twice as much energy to be receptive to new stimuli, and in doing so we feel that what happens to us in a travel day is so intense that it is worth 3 of “normal life.”
Self-love: the importance of small gestures
If you are thinking of leaving to find yourself, it is most likely a good idea! But for your experience to be truly enriching, it is important to keep one thing in mind: loving yourself takes time, commitment and care, and these three things are nourished by small gestures.
Taking a big step, such as booking a trip, is a good start, but the real heart of the game then lies in the small gestures you make each day of that journey: those are the keys to finding yourself.
Loving oneself means respecting one’s own rhythms, welcoming every facet of one’s being, every mood, knowing how to say no but also knowing when to push one’s limits in order to grow.
Getting out of your geographic comfort zone allows you to write the days from scratch, asking yourself each time, “What do I really need?”
Often it is in the simplicity that the answer lies: in fact, what will make the adventure the right opportunity to find yourself will be the small attentions you’ll give yourself every day.
4 unusual items that can't be missed in your backpack on a trip to find yourself
Leaving to regain a deep connection with oneself is not always easy, and the first few days may be all uphill. The small actions we talked about earlier are a good way to stay on track, to stimulate oursomewhat wounded or confused hearts.
So, I want to suggest you a list of 4 items to put in your backpack; they may seem unusual to you, but then again, you leave to break the limits of a comfort-zone that is too narrow. Take it as a game, a chance to find lost parts of yourself.
Here, then, is what cannot be missing from your backpack:
- A piece of clothing that makes you feel good, with which you fully express your personality.
Pick a garment from your closet that you like a lot but end up never wearing thinking it’s not the right occasion or because it “doesn’t fit” with the usual image of yourself. Remember to be daring: you are in a new place, no one knows you, and you can experiment with new versions of you; Is your time to be who you want to be!
- A small notebook to jot down the most beautiful phrases you hear from passersby or people you meet.
When you are traveling you tend to have more attentive and curious ears; take the opportunity to “peek” into people’s conversations and note down what strikes your heart. Those phrases will be inspirational and shift the focus of your thoughts out of your thought loop, unlocking those mental loops that are at the root of the dissatisfaction that set you off in the first place.
- A bill to keep and spend only on a small gift you decide to give yourself.
When traveling we tend to spend without paying attention to how much each expense is in fact a gift we give ourselves. Carefully choosing how to spend that bill, as if that were the only gift we give ourselves, helps to devote a moment of extreme care and attention to us, making us feel pampered and cared for. It may also prove to be an opportunity to rediscover long-forsaken sides of us (a cookbook, a visit to a photo exhibit, a set of watercolors…maybe a new passion is behind our gift!).
- A small item to give as a gift to someone you meet.
Caring for another individual through a simple gesture nurtures our loving side, thus spurring us to reproduce that same feeling of caring for ourselves. Before you leave, choose something that was yours and that you think it might be nice to receive and put it in your backpack; in order to find ourselves we must first learn to let go.
Well, now that your backpack is ready all you have to do is to leave and rely on that person who knows how to find you: yourself.
And remember: if you’re not yet ready to embark on a completely solo trip, find out about the services available with my My Friend In program…it could be the opportunity you’ve been looking for to take off!
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