Trust yourself

There is always that desire to do what I want. But, sometimes there’s also a but.

But what about money, but what about work, but what people think, but will I be able to, but what if something bad happens? And I could carry on. But we all recognise these excuses we make for ourselves.

So this story is about me, deciding to go on a solo trip to Portugal.

The fear of going on my own didn’t really hit me up until I got to my Airbnb apartment. I am very organised so I looked up everything before; how to travel, how to buy a ticket, where do I need to get off and thank God for google maps for helping me walk to my Airbnb. Got there, dumped my stuff and I left. The world my Portuguese oyster.

That is when it hit me, so what now then. New surroundings, new people, new country, new language, God, I was even scared to take my camera out. First I had shaking legs, speedy heart rate, shallow breathing that led me to a first goal: to reach the water and the beach, sit there, take a gasp of air to let the idea of me coming to travel and explore to sink in. I couldn’t believe it myself that I did. Wow. What a joy to feel free. 

Having had the desire to explore, to try new food and to see beautiful Portugal beaches for quite a few years, it was just about time to do all those things. How exciting! 

Making a plan of what I wanted to see and where to go didn’t take long and pretty quickly I was enjoying myself. Strolling through Lisbon streets, having tapas, feeling lovely warmth over my skin with 23 degrees warmth at the end of October, my heart was singing how life and the whole world is beautiful. 

As much as I love London and I loved Lisbon the greatest love I have is for nature. So next stop, the Algarve a little town called Lagos that had been recommended by my friend. 4hours later I'm was sitting by a beach full of surfers and wondering why I didn’t get a memo for an outfit! 

After 5 days spent in Portugal, I learnt that I am capable more than I think. I am very good at organising the things around me, moving myself to places, having places booked, travelling to the south of Portugal, almost not making it to the plane, haha, but I made it all, and all the credit goes to me!

You get to learn what you like and what you want, there's no one to tell you no, so when you want to see a gallery, you go and do it, it helps you to build your confidence to follow your impulses, as you only need to please you.

You learn to see how you are looking after yourself, how do you talk to yourself, your safety, physical needs- food, sleep, exercise, etc. You learn who are you - are you shy or brave, do you push yourself out of your comfort zone, how do you deal with events happening around you, what habits do you have, how do you have fun.

I learnt that love and care for myself were growing by allowing myself to be who I am and do what I like.

The quote that I always come back to: ‘If not now, when? If not you, who?’. Trusting your gut, your intuition, your desires, trusting that ideas come to you for a reason because you are ready for it and your body needs that stretch of a new experience. People seek to feel peace, harmony, happiness whilst at the job they hate, whilst they do what they don’t like, they stay in relationships and friendships that they don’t want. There's no space to feel all the juicy goodness that they want to feel. I felt peace when I allowed myself to go and explore and to see new architecture, new surroundings. The longing to explore was there for such a long time that when I finally did it, I felt so good, so beautifully calm and happy. Unhappiness happens because we want to be somewhere other than where we are right now but it is up to us to take the responsibility into our own hands and do something about it.

If you are indecisive about whether to go solo travelling I 100% encourage you. It was the best thing I could give to myself, that sense of ownership of your life empowers you for more extraordinary experiences to welcome into your life.