On this week’s episode of A Healthy Push, I talk about one of my favorite things: Solo Adventuring!
If you’ve been following me (especially on social) for a good amount of time now, you probably already know that I’m an adventurous person. I love to hike, ski, travel, and try new and exciting things, but I always did this stuff with other people. But a couple of years ago I felt a strong desire to do more things on my own, and although it's been hard and uncomfy, I've learned a lot along the way and have gained a lot in the process.
Doing things alone isn’t easy. In fact, a lot of the time it’s unfamiliar, scary, and uncomfortable, and can be an anxious experience for many of us. I avoided it for years, thinking “Why would I want to do that?”. As humans, it is only natural that we choose short-term comfort, but at what cost? Well, I’m here to tell you that doing things alone is actually more beneficial than you may think, and I’ve broken it down into 5 applications that have helped me so that you can start discovering these benefits for yourself.
1. Establishing Your Why
First and foremost, you have to establish your reasoning. Why are you seeking time alone? Why are you making it a goal to start doing things on your own? If you don’t establish your Why, it makes it a lot harder to take the steps necessary for growth. Plus, without a solidified reasoning and foundation for your goal, you have nothing motivating you when things don’t go as planned!
Here are some reasons why you might feel pulled to do more things alone:
to build confidence and self-trust
to gain freedom and independence
to enjoy solitude and self-reflection
for your healing and personal growth
you simply want to enjoy activities without external pressures
2. Connecting with People on Social Media
I know what you’re thinking: what does social media have to do with experiencing solo adventures…outside, disconnected from my phone? And while you’re right to sense some contradiction, let me tell you how exactly I found social media helpful. When you’re lost on an objective, not sure where to start, or looking for something or someone to relate to, social media is a wonderful tool. When I first started on my solo adventure goals, I found people on social media who were doing the same thing, documenting their adventures along the way. While everyone will have different reasons and ‘Whys’, you can still draw motivation and inspiration from them. Sometimes, relating to people or seeing people do things you’re aiming to do yourself can be the extra push you need to start taking actionable steps. If they can do it, so can you!
3. Taking Small Steps
As I alluded to in the introduction, solo adventuring can be difficult and uncomfortable. So, to start, make sure you’re setting gradual and realistic goals for yourself, slowly building your confidence. Go for a trail walk somewhere close by, go to coffee shops or stores around town. These seemingly menial tasks alone will be uncomfortable and challenging, but they are necessary for growth and progression. We all would like to hike a big mountain solo or take a plane ride across the country for a solo vacation, but it’s important to start small. If we swing for the fences and try to take it to the extreme right away, finding we are unable to do it, we are risking losing confidence in ourselves, and incorrectly perceiving this as a failure. Small steps will always get you there!
4. Consistently Set Challenges
With any goal you set for yourself, long-term or short-term, it’s important to hold yourself accountable. Consistency is so important and helpful! Setting weekly challenges and goals will help to keep you on track and help you to keep building your confidence and trust. Personally, I remember setting weekly goals for myself when I first started working on my solo adventuring. As you may realize, this approach aligns nicely with the previous notion of setting small, gradual, and realistic goals. Not only do these small weekly goals give you something to strive for, bringing satisfaction and progression as you complete them, but they can also help clarify your Why. Are you after independence? Solitude? Self-reflection? All of the above? As you start setting and completing these weekly goals, the answers to these questions will start revealing themselves if they haven’t already.
5. Allowing Myself to Do Things While Being Anxious
As you move down this checklist, you will hopefully arrive here: being more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Progression and improvement aren’t marked by our anxious feelings being completely eradicated, it’s having the presence of mind to accept that these feelings are present, and doing things anyway. This is a common theme in most things I teach, and it comes up again with solo adventuring. Anxiety and anxious feelings will always be a part of life and the human experience. But the day you’re ready to accept these feelings as they come, not allowing them to limit you and hold you back, is one of the most powerful steps you’ll take on your journey to long-term healing and freedom.
I want to leave you with this… When you start taking small steps to do things alone, it’s important to take time to recognize the benefits of the work you’re doing. Whenever I push myself to do more things alone and outside of my comfort zone, I always stop and think about how it’s helped me. I can say for sure that I have much more confidence and self-trust. I really enjoy my own company more. Doing more things alone has also helped me to be more creative in my business and also be more present in my day-to-day life and with my daughter. And I just feel like I’ve really gotten to know myself better, which is such a good feeling!
And please, don’t wait until you feel ready or confident, cause that readiness and confidence doesn’t come without doing. Trust me, you’ll see that you’re a lot more capable than you’ve ever thought you were!
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