If you’re an American, you’re especially steeped in the virtues of “doing.” We’re taught from childhood about the importance of getting up early (early bird gets the worm) and working harder than the next person to get ahead. Planning weeks or months in advance for most things (even coffee or drinks with friends) is a sign our life is busy and full of important tasks. We volunteer and take ourselves and/or our kids to every event or class or practice or opportunity imaginable. We’re constantly DOING THE THINGS.

This is why I believe travel can be so transformational.

It gives us the opportunity to dip our toe into the art of BEing.

Planning a trip, whether near or far, can be exciting—and stressful. The idea of heading off to a beautiful location and leaving your cares behind can feel amazing. But when you actually get into the details, you can also begin to feel bogged down in the stress and the pressure of designing the perfect trip.

I’ve found one thing to be crucial when it comes to planning a trip that’s potentially life changing. Start by asking one simple question:

“How do I want to FEEL on this particular journey?”

Two years ago, I returned from a trip that changed me.

I embarked on that trip hoping for healing. Hoping for the ability to breathe again. Hoping to find my way in what felt like an endless sea of waves that did nothing but crash over me. One after the other. Relentless waves of fear. Anxiety. Doubts. I felt wrecked, and I knew it.

I was blessed with having a place to go where people knew and loved me. And with the ability to get away and see if I could find my way again.

I recently did a writing exercise that asked one simple question:

What do I want to change in my life today, and why does it matter to me?

You feel anxiety or sadness or any really difficult emotion arise and you feel like you might drown in the wave & never find your way out. What can you do?

Here’s a 5-step practice that’s saving my life right now and helping my OVERWHELMING feelings seem manageable.

Something profound happens in the waiting. Our sitting with the darkness begins to transform us. Prepare us for new life.

There is magic in this waiting, because if you allow yourself to sit with it, it leads to beauty.

The ground has shifted. ⁣
What was once your familiar life, no longer is.⁣
The routines you counted on to ground you, to make you feel safe, ⁣
Are not there anymore, ⁣
And there is GRIEF. ⁣

When you choose to take a different path from those around you, ⁣
That is brave. ⁣
When you allow yourself to feel what’s inside, no matter how scary or overwhelming, ⁣
That is brave. ⁣
When you ask for help, ⁣
That is brave. ⁣

I have been a seeker and still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my soul. - ⭐️Rumi

This might be the greatest lesson of my life so far.

To stop listening to everyone else.

Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
✈️