Believe it or not, initiating travel will grow self-confidence immensely. For Black women this is an exciting and daunting fact. Exciting because yes, we deserve space to be well, to be ourselves and to see the world. Daunting because the world doesn’t always welcome us, at home or abroad.
Living a life of travel, or even taking that one trip you’ve always dreamed of, will do something indescribable to your spirit and sense of self. Nonetheless, we’re going to try to put into words exactly what travel will do to your self-confidence, how to guard it and why it is simply a magical experience all Black women should experience.
Learn yourself
There are many ways to learn yourself, you don’t have to step out of your home to access this inner knowledge. But traveling will be a fast and sure way to get to the core of who you are. Traveling often encourages a slow life, or at least one with less distractions. In that stillness, you are able to learn how to hold space for the thoughts that perhaps cannot exist in your everyday routine.
Equally, being able to prioritize time to listen to who you are becoming is invaluable. Learning yourself is an ongoing process that is more than a neat ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ type of situation. No, no – traveling is messy, it is exhausting on the body, the mind and the emotions. It is constant upheaval and rerooting, having to adjust to new people and strange places. Being in constant transition will teach you about yourself – your strengths, your blind spots and the parts that never fluctuate no matter where you find yourself in the world. This type of learning is invaluable and refreshes you, trip after trip.
Reaching ‘It girl’ status through travel, immediately
So, we’re all ‘It girls’ or ‘It girls’ in process. The It girl loves herself deeply, is soft, intuitive and finds time to live the best possible life available.
Also, the It girl is delusional. Seriously. Dreaming up new ways and worlds in which to live, all the while believing that the impossible already is. Self-confidence is first dreamt into reality. Without completely disconnecting from the lived reality, traveling lets Black women recenter themselves without interruption.
While traveling, you don’t need to ask permission to be your highest self, you just show up and let the sun bring out the best in you. Carrying this energy home with you and extending the dream well into the ‘real world’ is where the challenge begins… but you can do it, we’ve already envisioned it for you.
Realize that you yourself are home
Home is certainly in your body. The reality of being a traveling Black woman is that often you are made to feel displaced in that body. Across the diaspora a sense of homelessness or displacement can result in ‘expat-hood’ being a disguise for searching for a home. A place where you feel belonging, peaceful, where your nervous system is regulated and your existence welcomed. Without invalidating the very real personal need for exodus, travel will help Black women tap into themselves as the ultimate safe space rather than a particular location. Knowing this is a true boost in self-confidence.
Moving to live in the mountains, going off-grid or simply moving to the next city – wherever you need to go to breathe deeper, be enlivened by the fact that you will always be at home in yourself.
Navigating life outside of your comfort zone
Who are you when you’re not wrapped up in the everyday routine of work and living? How do you actually like to live? Which continent actually suits your way of life? Which types of people do you naturally connect with? What is your personality like in another language?
These are just some of the questions that pop up when you start to travel. A whole new layer of who you truly are starts to reveal itself. The beauty of this for Black women – and people in general – is the ability to break out of the realities and boxes that have been prescribed. Black women can exist however they want by exploring more and breaking the limiting categorizations.
Comfort zones, they say, exist to be reimagined. Travel is the perfect environment for this constant cycle of reimagining. While stepping out of your comfort zone is, as you’d expect, uncomfortable, there is so much reward in finding new comfort zones and places that feel truer.
The difficult moments grow you
Travel isn’t always rosy. Even still, loving yourself through the difficult moments will surely grow your self-confidence. Showing up for yourself when things go ugly on a trip or seeing what survival mode looks like while on your travels will reveal new layers. Life is full of ups and downs, sometimes travel makes those highs and lows more intense but being able to come out wiser, aware and self-confident has got to be worth it.
So, seeing Black women enter the realm of travel and self-learning is a long-overdue treat that we’re indulging in. While travel slowing becomes more and more accessible to all, we expect to see more Black women inviting themselves back to themselves and thriving in confidence.