I’ll never forget when I left alone for the first time. Soon I, the only child, a frightened child, so afraid that I was afraid to sleep in his neighbor’s house; a person so insecure that, until she was very old, she was not sure to buy clothes without the mother’s advice.
It was 2014, she was already another woman after 5 years away from home by the university and almost a year working and living away from everything and everyone in Brasilia, after a change of course that manifested itself in the form of a sudden return to Sao Paulo. I had almost a single chance to meet neighbor Piren-polis, I had no doubt: I looked for the hostel, bought bus tickets, took the suitcase and left.
- I remember wanting to travel alone to Cachoeira back to Dragaes.
- But I would have to join a group in front of the distance.
- Result: the owner of the hostel put me in touch with a group of 5 men who traveled together in This Initial Fear as a Single Woman (only a woman knows the extra fears she goes through every day alone.
- And simply because she is a woman) she took over me and was very reluctant.
- But something I learned as a woman is also my intuition.
- He didn’t see or feel any threat to these people.
- I trusted you.
It was perhaps one of the funniest adventures I keep in my walking memory reliquary. Not only did the band welcome me, but it was extremely fun. We took a great tour and saw amazing tricks, shared cookie packs and countless laughs. people you only see once, but for which you will always feel a lot of sympathy and gratitude for the moments of authentic and authentic association.
This had been a small step in my saga of lone travelers, but it was enough to be contaminated with the irretrievable sense of power, autonomy and confidence that simply comes from traveling alone.
Since then, I’ve wanted more. And on a sleepless night, eager to take my vacation to fulfill the old dream of a European backpack and without the company of friends available, I took advantage of those 5 seconds of courage that people often ignore. I bought my return tickets for about 33 days on the Old Continent. I remember that mixture of euphoria and panic that gets people out of reality.
And I did. With a backpack lent to me by a friend, with my English never used outside english classes years ago, the girl who had only once been to Buenos Aires for a few days, making her first long international trip?
I often say that traveling alone for me is first and foremosm therapy: it is an opportunity to see life from the point of view of a third observer, which is sometimes so complicated to do when one is immersed in routine, in the same places and circles. Are you moving away from your everyday reality, your relationships, your problems?and to be able to see everything from a new and less polluted angle. But there’s also a start on the plus side: the comfort and privacy of your home. , safe and familiar paths, the acceptance of your circle of trust, the firm feet of being in your culture, in your people, in your traditions, and this distance is also a balm: you discover how you manage the unexpected, the unknown. , discomfort, problems when there is no one to support you. You realize how you are someone else, often diametrically different in the way you are, act, feel, when you are in a different context, without all your basis of life, for better or worse.
When you travel alone, you realize the beauty of calm and loneliness, these moments of thanks to your own company, what it is necessary to have these moments isolated from so much interference from our relationships to care for and hear the voice emanating from us. .
With each challenge, problem, unforeseen overcome, the winning taste of perceiving yourself capable. In every exciting moment lived, alone or with new unknown friends, the certainty of an amazing life can be if you simply allow yourself to live it with intensity and adventure. spirit from whom he wants to extract much more. The feeling of ecstasy when one perceives how to cross comfort zones, lines of irrational fears and how to question oneseed almost always keeps unimaginable and unforgettable moments beyond these barriers. yourself, yes, much more than you imagined.
As you travel alone, you realize how much you put aside your will for the benefit of all, in addition to the healthy, and what it feels like to be able to take the reins of decisions on your own, to enjoy the autonomy to make. whatever you want whenever you want. And relearn the importance of also knowing how to set up your desires when needed.
Travelling only means being open to dialogue, connections and fresh looks, open to the new. Shoot the subject with strangers. Hear stories from so many experiences, behind so many accents or languages, creating connections of a minute or maybe a lifetime. It’s also an important reminder of how important some of these people are to their lives (and how you should value them more After all, this world is huge, there are countless amazing people, but there are some who, even if the world turns upside down, are there, love you and care about you and really understand you like no other in the universe.
Since then, I have always traveled alone, even if it is brief, periodically, for my mental health. Remember who I am, in essence, outside of everything around me every day. Remember how much I love silence, how aprecio. la serenity of my own business, how I do it. Remind me how I am able to venture, to live the new, to face the improbable, and thus to feel a renewed look and realign trust. To remind me that bravery has always brought me back to life with a broad smile and bright eyes. To also remember the gratitude for the comfort of my routine, my known and favorite places and the warm embrace of the support and presence of those who truly love me.
You may even think that traveling alone is an attempt to get away from you, but in fact, it’s the best opportunity to rediscover yourself.