I Used to Feel Lost.

I did everything the right way.

School. Work beside school. University. Work beside university. A corporate job with real purpose and real pay, offered before I had even finished my master’s degree. Four years in, doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

And I still felt lost.

So I left. Not the polite version of leaving. The real one. I stepped out of every role I had been playing, daughter, sister, coworker, friend, and went solo traveling. I kept in touch with the people I loved, but for the first time in my life, nobody needed anything from me. I was free to sit in silence and actually listen to what my mind and body had been trying to tell me for years.

Eight months. Fifteen countries. Four continents. A new bed every day and a half, on average.

I traveled like it was the only thing I had ever wanted to do, because it was.

Then my body made me stop

Somewhere in the middle of all that momentum, I needed surgery. Alone. Mid trip. It forced me to slow down in a way I never would have chosen for myself.

I could have felt scared. Alone. Sad that the adventure had to pause.

Instead, something else happened. My mind went straight into gratitude.

I lay in a six person dorm room, recovering, listening to strangers tell me about their lives while they took care of me. And I felt proud. Not because the trip was going perfectly, it wasn’t. But because for the first time, I had done something I truly wanted, even knowing I risked disappointing the people who expected the safe version of me.

Slowing down didn’t take anything away. It gave me more.

In that stillness, I started writing my book (finishing soon!)

I started OwnCompanyClub. And somewhere between the recovery bed and the next flight, it all clicked. This wasn’t a detour from my life. It was the beginning of it.

Doing what you actually want, believing you don’t need to have it all figured out before you start, letting the rest arrange itself around that choice: that is the whole thing.

Research on autonomy and wellbeing suggests that people who make choices aligned with their own values tend to report more lasting satisfaction than people chasing external approval.

I didn’t need a study to feel it. But it’s nice to know the feeling holds up.

Ask yourself this

What do you truly desire right now, underneath the version of your life you think you’re supposed to want?

And what is one honest step toward getting it?

If your answer has anything to do with solo travel, I’ve mapped out my own itineraries from my actual trip and own experience, China to Colombia to Uganda and everywhere in between. Not a highlight reel. The real route, built from a woman who went out to get lost and came back knowing exactly who she was.

Own your own company. Start with yourself. The rest will follow.

Sign up for the Newsletter for more insights into solo travel, self-trust and becoming sustained happy and healthy. Sign-up below.

• 

Vietnam - Ha Long Bay