In my opinion, fear is the strongest emotion we have. It’s stronger than happiness, anger, and even love. Fear holds us back from so many things in our day to day life, and it especially holds us back when we try to plan for our future.

Recognizing that fear is a natural emotional reaction is important, but recognizing that you can overcome the fear is much more powerful.

Recently a friend of mine and I were talking about traveling. I had just arrived back from Vietnam and he put me up for a night in his home in D.C. so we and a few other friends could all catch up.

He asked me a ton of questions about my recent journey and continually told me he thought I was “so brave” for traveling to so many places; especially alone.

I asked him where he has desired to travel to, and he shared with me his long list of places he would like to see. He then expressed to me that he’s intimidated by the idea of traveling to foreign countries alone.

He told me he has tried to plan trips with friends in the past, but that the planning always falls to the wayside and in the end, nobody buys a ticket and nobody goes anywhere… (I think we are all familiar with this outcome when making plans with friends). He recognized that if he wants to go somewhere, he needs to just buy the ticket and go; regardless of whether his friends are able to join him or not.

Of course, I agreed with him!

I ran the circle of trying to make plans with friends for many years, and in the end, I learned that If I wanted to go somewhere or do something, I was better off taking the steps to make sure I could go, even if that meant going alone.

In no time, I got comfortable doing things alone. Whether that be attending a concert, enjoying dinner at a new restaurant, taking a flight for a weekend trip to Sin City or even driving a few miles to jump on a local hiking trail for a few hours. Regardless of what you want to do or how far you want to go, friends are not always the most reliable. At the end of the day, if you want to go somewhere, GO!!

I asked him what parts of traveling alone intimidates him the most and he told me that he doesn’t know the first step of getting a visa (if he even needs one), planning how to get around in private cars, taxis or some form of public transportation, deciding where to stay, understanding foreign currency, communicating when he doesn’t speak the language….his list (like many others) went on and on.

I pulled out my laptop and began doing some basic searches on a few of the countries he has been dreaming of traveling to; Tahiti, Japan, Paraguay…

Within about five minutes he knew if he’d need a visa, whether those countries have UBER/ LYFT or their own version of ride share cars, the typical cost per mile (we speak in miles; we’re Americans) of private transportation, if there was a metro or other form of public transit he could use to save money, the highlights of the city/country he wants to see that are most recommended (I take other peoples recommendations rarely but do suggest having a loose plan for your first few days in a foreign place), the average cost of staying in these places based on currency exchange and whether English and/or Spanish (he’s bilingual) is a common language in those regions.

Within just those few minutes he had almost all the information that had him too concerned to take the necessary steps to actually make these desires a reality.

…and now he is planning his first big (likely solo) trip!!!

Seek out your desires!!

I look forward to following your amazing adventures!

Godspeed.