The Art of Intentional Travel for Personal Growth

Imagine turning your next travel escape into a journey of self-discovery and personal growth. That's exactly what I, Cheryl Esch, aim to help you achieve in our latest episode. Having used travel as a means to cope with the pressures of my corporate career, I realized it could be so much more than just a temporary escape. We dive into the art of purposeful travel, focusing on how to identify your unique physical, mental, and spiritual needs to choose destinations that truly nurture and revitalize you. Whether you're seeking solace in nature, the tranquility of a beach, or a quiet retreat, understanding your personal requirements is key to creating fulfilling travel experiences.

Solo travel, especially for women needing a break from the hustle and bustle of daily life, can be incredibly empowering and enlightening. I share insights and personal stories highlighting the transformative potential of traveling alone with clear intentions, whether for reflection, healing, or rejuvenation. By stepping out of your comfort zone, you open doors to growth and new perspectives. For those ready to plan a meaningful getaway, don’t forget to revisit episode 118 for a comprehensive guide on selecting your next destination. Let’s embark on this journey together, ensuring each trip is a purposeful venture rather than just another escape, book a call with me.
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Chapters

• 0:00 Making Travel More Meaningful
• 7:48 Creating Purposeful Solo Travel Experience

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You know, when you're working non-stop and have barely enough time for yourself and the stress level of your life starts to mount higher and higher, you know you need a vacation, just anything to get away. Do you know anyone who has done that, who has used travel as an escape mechanism? Well, what if it didn't have to be that way? Well, today we're going to talk about how to make your travels more meaningful. Welcome to Solo Travel Adventures. I'm Cheryl Esch, your solo travel advocate. Well, I have been there, folks. I look back at some of my younger days of you know, sometimes I did use it to just escape, just to get away, just to avoid a situation, maybe, but there is more to travel than utilizing it in that manner. And yes, we all need some time away from work. And I don't know about you, but at least in the US, I find this very common in that many people we just work, work, work until we are so stressed out and then we finally book a vacation, but we don't take the time to be intentional about where we're going. Intentional about where we're going when we go, you know, will we go with somebody or will we go by ourselves? So there's lots of questions you could be asking to make sure that your next trip has meaning, has purpose to it and it's not just being utilized as an escape mechanism, and I've done that. But I'm going to give you another example, in that I had a very stressful job in 2023, a corporate job and it just kept mounting. The stress was just getting to be unbearable. It was affecting my health, not just my physical health, but also my mental health and although I was looking to get away to you know, step away from that stressful situation, I spent some time and asking myself some questions, which is what you want to do to start this process of determining the intentionality of this trip that you plan to take, this escape that you are planning to take. However you want to look at it, but if you ask yourself some very poignant questions before you even start to book a, this will help guide you in how you can decide and find the best place to whether it's to renew yourself physically, whether it's to rejuvenate mentally, but everybody has different needs, and so I want you to ask yourself first your question that you want to ask when you're looking to make your trip more intentional, more purposeful, instead of just getting away from a stressful situation, or maybe it's just having to get away from a unhealthy situation, right? Whatever that may be for you, you still want to ask these questions.

Speaker 1: 3:21

First of all, you want to ask yourself what are your needs for this trip? So my example when I was trying to get away from this high stress corporate job and I needed a little time away. I needed some time to think, because I was hitting a point where I was considering leaving the job. So I wanted some really good time of thinking. So for me, that really meant I needed to travel solo. Okay, so that was definitely number one. Okay, I need to travel solo because I need some individual quiet time to really reflect on what's going on in my life. Right, I was hitting a possible pivot point in my life.

Speaker 1: 4:05

The other thing is, I had to ask myself what do I physically need? So, physically, for me it was, you know, for me personally, I love to be in nature, outdoors. I knew that that was going to help me not only physically but also mentally, and so I had. You know, I've been sitting at a desk for months, you know, for 50 hours a week, typically in a room that had no windows and fluorescent lights and I just needed to get outside. That's, that's me.

Speaker 1: 4:41

But you may have other needs, needs that fulfill you. Maybe you're a beach person and for you, the, the saltwater, the sand, that is what kind of rejuvenates you, and if that's what your need is, then, yes, you can look to that. Maybe you want to do a little stay um, staycation kind of idea, and maybe this would be if you're needing that alone time. Uh, I've gone to just stay in a little tiny home one time, just to get away and reflect, so discover what your personal needs are. From both, well, three places you can look at your physical needs, your mental needs and even, if you have spiritual needs, of what that environment looks like, because that's going to determine where you book your trip, and I want your travels to have meaning, to have purpose, and so when we intentionally spend some time asking some of these really important questions about yourself and about what your needs are, you're also going to have a better, uh, better way of picking a place instead of just randomly going okay, I'm just, I'm so done with this, I'm just going to, I'm just going to go here, right, Um, and that place could be great. The trip could still turn out, you know, in your favor. But when we take the time beforehand to ask these questions, you're going to get a better outcome. You're going to enjoy the trip, the vacation, much better.

Speaker 1: 6:20

The other thing you can do is in episode 118, I took you through, you know, a process that I do to help me determine. You know where I want to book my next trip, and it's also. It's a similar process. It starts the same, but I, you know, I kind of outline a lot more questions in that episode that you could take Next time you are feeling stressed out and you just want to get away, then take a moment, take a breath, make sure you can kind of carve out some time for yourself and sit down and ask some of these questions.

Speaker 1: 7:01

All right, ask, you know what are your needs and making sure that this destination fulfills those needs, and then look to see what you can find from there. And sometimes budget or time constraints can also kind of limit I don't like to say limit, but it actually makes the decision process a little easier. But if you're finding that that's limiting you too much and you have the ability to be flexible, maybe about when you go or what your budget is could you tweak it a little bit? Then you can open up more opportunities. Then you can open up more opportunities.

Speaker 1: 7:48

If you're still feeling stuck and you still feel like I need some more direction on how to do this and you want to make your next solo trip meaningful and be intentional about it, then book a call with me and in the show notes there's a link where you could go ahead and set that up. We'll talk and just decide if working with me and in the show notes there's a link where you could go ahead and set that up. We'll talk and just decide if working with me is something that will get you to the point where you can enjoy and you're getting good direction on what trips to book, or if there's something deeper that you need to work on and maybe your intention for this trip is not just to get away. I mean, yes, those are lovely, it's lovely to be able to get away and have that rest, but what if it was more? What if each trip had a focus or an intention behind it?

Speaker 1: 8:44

And, in addition to those pre-questions, there would be some questions you could ask yourself while you are on your trip to also keep yourself in that mindset of knowing what the purpose of this trip is, or going deeper into you know, utilizing that trip to really dig deeper into yourself, whether it's to reflect, maybe it's to just heal or to rejuvenate, I love it. That's, you know, that's important for us, especially for us as women. And if you are currently working and you need that time, you need that time away. But we don't want to just jump into something just to escape and just make it um, you know, I have been there as a young uh 20 something.

Speaker 1: 9:40

I have many times, uh, wanted to escape a situation and would just jump in my car and take off somewhere, and at the moment it's, you know, it feels freeing. But then I start to think what am I doing here? Right, what is the purpose for me being in this new place? And it can give you perspective. Anytime we are away from our comfort zones and our everyday, ordinary, mundane lives and we're experiencing something different and new. There is also a lot of growth and just eye-opening experiences that can happen in those situations. So, again, I encourage you, you can go back to episode 118, maybe walk through some of those questions to prepare you for your next travels and if you still want some deeper help, more direction. I am here for you. I encourage you to book a call with me. All right, sisters. Well, go and have that adventure, but make sure it is intentional and has purpose.