Hello beautiful people! Now that I'm back home after my recent solo trip, I'm excited to break it down and write a short post on the experience :-)
It is no secret that NYC is my favorite city in the United States, so it was the perfect place to do my first solo trip. Before this, I had this fear that I would fall short when it came time to be by myself/advocate for myself with no support directly/physically behind me. Stepping out and deciding to do this was both intimidating and exciting, regardless of my familiarity with the city. Now that I'm back and have time to reflect, I can comfortably say that this trip was one that created an environment for emotional growth, and how amazing it was to be able to spend the time alone with myself.
Starting with things I've learned...
Nobody cares what you're doing. I had eaten in restaurants by myself before, but it was always this anxiety-provoking scenario of wondering who was judging me (at least that's how I used to view it), but the reality is, nobody cares. This was an overall theme for the entire trip, being by yourself is so normalized in a big city, that to go out and do things solo was nothing that was flagged as odd by those around me. You can (and you should) go and step out of your comfort zone and learn to realize that most people are so worried thinking the same things, that nobody is paying attention to if you're eating your pasta in peace and quiet.
You have to love yourself in order to love your life. This is an idea I've been thinking about these past few years, but it wasn't until I had the opportunity to really listen to myself, and the way I was feeling in any given moment, to help me realize that you control your life. So commonly we (at least I do) will try to change our environment in hopes that it improves our mental health, but unless we can sit with ourselves and enjoy our own company, no environment we're in will be able fix our problems.
Everyone gets on the wrong subway. This is so silly. I accidentally got on the uptown instead of the downtown train and was late to where I was supposed to be going. Whoops! No worries! Just roll with the punches!
MOST people are kind. There's a stereotype for New Yorkers that they're mean. This entire trip, there were very few scenarios where I felt like I was in a place where nobody would be willing to step in and help. There were however scenarios where people stepped in and helped out, and it's truly a supportive community. Everyone is doing there own thing, but most people don't want someone to be in danger, or unwell. Kindness is returned with kindness, we are all people, we are put here to extend love and kindness to one another.
Now, the lesser of the fun. The biggest cons I would say about solo-traveling (at least to NYC) was the catcalling when you're by yourself is horrendous. For the days I was there, there were typically only a few in the touristy areas, but my last morning was so bad I had to go buy a sweatshirt to feel safe walking back to where I was staying. The important lesson is: Be aware of your surroundings, and honestly the best course of action is to just ignore the comments. This scenario isn't uncommon for women regardless of where we are, just something I was hyper-aware of in NYC.
Anyhoodle, those are my big takeaways so here are a few fun pictures to wrap up <3 Love you all. Go book a solo trip.
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