“The best thing you can do for yourself is travel… and travel alone,” – Madonna
If you haven’t heard the story of how I started traveling after an important conversation with Madonna, the short version is this:
I was dating a band member who worked on The Virgin Tour. When I met Madonna, I realized we had so much in common: We were both raised within conservative families with lots of outward-facing “social” rules.
I asked Madonna how she broke away from these constraints. She said –
“The best thing you can do for yourself is travel… and travel alone.”
I took her advice and traveled to over 60 countries around the globe. Those trips (and more importantly, those experiences) changed my life in incredible ways.
But over the last several years, I’ve traveled much less (and my guess is, you have, too!)
What can you do when the “best thing” isn’t an option? (For reasons other than a global pandemic even.)
Consider Madonna’s advice as a metaphor: This is about making your own decisions.
(That’s why traveling alone is the best option: it requires your independent decision-making.)
Escaping the daily grind (or for me, the constraints of early childhood) opens the possibility for you to think for yourself… maybe for the first time.
This requires something different from you, something vital when you desire to CREATE A LIFE YOU LOVE.
Here’s a couple ways you might “travel alone” (when travel isn’t an option) –
TAKE YOURSELF ON A DATE: For me, this looks like choosing a restaurant with gorgeous scenery, selecting soft music from my favorite playlist, and journaling or making art during dinner. But what might this look like for you?
TAKE A MINI-VACATION (a daytrip, an overnight trip, or for the weekend): Make your own “vacation rules” so you can practice identifying what YOU want and need (away from the group). That’s the important part!
EXPLORE YOUR OWN CITY: Here’s a fun one! You know your place of residence pretty well, right? Take a walk in a different part of town (you might be surprised by what you discover!)
The goal here is to stretch your decision-making muscles so you won’t be a pull-toy of someone else.
This teaches you how to stand in your own power.
Solo decision-making allows the kind of freedom that many of us NEVER experienced growing up.
And leaving or changing the environment you’re used to makes a difference, particularly if you’re used to other people making decisions for you.
(And keep a lookout for an upcoming coaching program with me that dives deep into this concept to help you create a life you love with big and small actions like these!)
