The Fear of Not Fitting In (and other highs and lows of solo travel)

“When life is hardest, we heal the most.”

My travels to Bali uncovered a lot more than I ever expected.

The days leading up to my trip were filled with so much stress, anxiety, and raw emotion- something I assumed I healed for the most part. I found myself trying my best to push those feelings down, cover them up with the excitement of travel, but let’s be honest. We all know that doesn’t work. Right before my trip, I ended up taking some really long walks and I let all of my feelings flow. 

Everything that came to the surface, I felt. 

I was scared. The fear of not being good enough had crept in on me. I was going somewhere new, I was going to meet people I had never met before and before I even got there I was telling myself that story of not being good enough. Should I even go on the trip?

Of course I should! I needed to feel the fear and do it anyways.

“There is nothing more powerful than a woman who knows her worth.”

Once I arrived, I knew it was exactly what I needed. The people of Bali acted as teachers. The people I stayed with were my teachers. The universe was giving me every lesson I could’ve asked for on this journey.

My biggest take aways from my travels:

• You don’t need a lot to be happy. The people of Bali don’t have the same life a lot of us do. They don’t have an overflow of things. What they did have was the most happiness I had ever seen. We get caught up in consumerism and forget that happiness doesn’t lie in things, it lies within us!

• Your worth is not in your weight, your appearance, your achievements, or the approval of other people. Most of these things will change over the course of time anyways! Remember that you are born worthy. Your worth doesn’t come from anything but you.

• Nobody is better than you. Nobody is less than you. Everyone is at a different place in their journey. That doesn’t make you better or less than anyone. We’re all on our own path!

• I don’t need to travel to be happy. I thought for the longest time that I needed to travel around to find happiness. The truth is, I can be happy with myself. After this trip, I’m even thinking about settling down for a while (that is definitely something unexpected!).

My trip to Bali was exactly what I needed to heal parts of myself I didn’t even know needed healing. 

Best,

Claire

For more about my adventures in Bali, check out the podcast episode on SPOTIFY or Apple Podcasts.