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Solo trips are not something that I thought of in my twenties or thirties, although I wish I did! As I got older, I didn’t realize how much I needed more alone time. And I think so many of us keep working through our to-do lists, over-giving to our family, our friends, our neighbors, our community, that we often don’t create space to fill our own bucket.
One way I have learned to carve out time for myself is to schedule solo trips. You don’t necessarily have to get on a plane or take a bus or travel for months and months and months. This summer, my solo trip was just three hours away. I left at seven in the morning. I drove to the Serpent Mounds in Southern Ohio.
If you are thinking, this is not for me, or how would I do this? Or, I don’t have time for this I share five steps you need to think about as you plan.
I was having a lot of internal desire to do something else with my career, even though I was right where I wanted to be, so I thought. After many nights and weeks of searching, I hesitantly scheduled a solo trip to Sedona by myself for three days. This was not something that I had planned to do, but I felt like I needed to create some space. I was having a major internal war between my mind, my ego, and my heart.
I needed this space to make some life decisions. Not all solo trips are to make big decisions or overcome these big life shifts. Sometimes a solo trip is to get some time by yourself, and gosh, do we need that now more than ever.
This time creates space as you get away from meals, cleaning up, and taking care of things because often, we need to fuel ourselves before we can create momentum based on where we want to have an impact next.
As I mentioned, this could be a few hours, or it could be a few days or even a week. It is up to you.
It is your gift to yourself.
Five questions to think about as you are thinking about a potential solo trip
What inspires you?
Another solo trip I took in 2018 was to New York City. I attended Mindfulness 2.0 [Now called Wisdom 2.0], which I went by myself. It was a three-day conference on why mindfulness is so important to busy people. And it was fabulous. I was at a conference all day, and then I picked fabulous restaurants to go to at night.
What could you do?
Because some of us, might not have the childcare, or the means for big trips, but we could take a day trip after our children get on the bus. Or, if we area caregiver, maybe we can get someone to take over for us, so we can get out for a few hours to visit a place like the botanical gardens, or the water, maybe even make a picnic by yourself.
6:40 Question # 3 Listen in for the third question!
Investing in You
You could be going to a coffee shop, a museum, or maybe even making booking a massage. You spend time investing in you out of the ordinary from what you usually do.
If you are thinking about this, you very well may be thinking, are you crazy? I can’t do that. I don’t have the funds or the time. Or, what will people think of me? Would my spouse approve? I can’t imagine what my mother would say. Whatever those fears are for you, know you are not alone. We all have fears when we are stretching in new ways, even when we are investing in ourselves!
We may feel like we are not worth it, or we don’t feel like we deserve it or that we shouldn’t be doing it, but I really believe you need it. I feel like so many of the women I’ve been talking to need to schedule time to have that dedicated space for them to think about where they are, what they want to do next, and how they are going to make that happen.
10:03 Solo trips, whether it is a few hours or a few days, can give you space for you to breathe and start to document where you want to take your energy and your momentum.
As you think of these five questions, think about what you could do this week beyond scheduling a date and beyond documenting your fears. Identify what inspires you.
Share Your #SoloTrip
Share a post of you planning your solo trip! And if you already took a solo trip, dig out a picture and share it tagging it with #solotrip and even tag me on Instagram so we can empower each other! @JJDIGERONIMO
Referral Sponsor
Today’s referral sponsor, Audiogram, I use this online tool for every podcast as I convert my audio into engaging social posts, not only for LinkedIn but also Instagram. So if you have some audio files you’re looking to repurpose, I encourage you to check out Audiogram.
Duration Is Not Important
Whether it is three hours or three days, it really doesn’t matter. It is about taking steps to invest in you in new ways to cultivate energy and momentum. You desire to create a pathway for where you want to have an impact next.
Some of My Struggles
I felt guilty asking for time away. I also feel guilty about using our family money to invest in something that I felt like I needed to get clarity, not only on my soul but on my work and where I wanted to take the direction of my career for the next decade.
12:32: It is hard to prioritize yourself. It isn’t easy to believe you deserve it, but I can assure you that moving down the same path consistently often requires you to shake up the bottle. It’ll move things around, change your perspective. And one of the ways that I do this is taking a solo trip and I know I’m not alone.
Together We Seek Retreats
I started my retreats about three years ago, Together We Seek! Many of the women who attended the first few retreats shared that they had never taken a trip without their spouse or children. And that coming together overnight for self-development was a huge step for them.
Find a way to step out of where you are picking yourself. You are picking and prioritizing you — your energy, your mission, your goals. Honestly, if you can’t prioritize self-love and investing in yourself, it is very rare that anyone else is going to do this for you.
I am excited to see what all of you do over the next few months. Please hashtag #solotrip because I love seeing all of you get excited about the life you are creating. And, as I mentioned before, it doesn’t have to be a big thing. Whatever it takes to start building the confidence and momentum so that you can step out in bigger ways.
Links
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