Happy New Year!
Travel Affirmation Cards are the topic of discussion today, but first…
I trust that your holiday season went swimmingly! I pretty much hung around my site. Why do you ask? Well originally I’d planned to take some leave days but then my sister informed me that she was coming to Botswana for two weeks in January. Instead I opted to take leave when she arrives. Makes more sense right? My site has been a ghost town. I work in a mining town and everyone leaves during the holidays (and weekends) to return to their “home village”. Yea pretty much just me, the cows, and donkeys kicking it around. I capitalized on this quiet time to finish up a few blog posts that have been lingering around for months. I pondered a bit about the future of this website and the goals to meet by the end of the year. Lastly I put a huge dent in finishing The Head Check, which should have been released in November. And I created a set of travel affirmation cards (more on this later). 10 gold stars to me for being SUPER productive.
Did you guys create any resolutions this year? I’ve decided that I will no longer make them. My consistency and self discipline in accomplishing them usually fails. And besides Tony Robbins thinks they are dumb. And he is the King of self discipline! Pushing through day by day and not stopping with the new skills I am trying to learn is more meaningful to me. So best not to unnecessarily stress myself out about anything else.
January is prime time for life changes and creating new mantras because it is the start of the year. Many folks will be striving for that beach body in the gym, doing diet challenges like the “Daniel’s Fast”, and restarting failed goals from 2015. One thing I’ve been noticing is that folks are making more commitments to travel.
It may seem like an easy endeavor. Just pick a date, book the ticket, and go! But for some folks budgeting and planning are major obstacles. Especially if you’ve never traveled before. In the past when I received emails or comments from readers asking “how are you able to afford to travel” I would take offense. But I get it now. Self handicapping thoughts play a major part in whether or not you will accomplish your goals or fall on your face. And many people destroy their travel dreams in their heads before they even try. Thoughts such as “It’s too dangerous”,”I’m afraid to travel alone”, or my favorite “You need to be rich”, are just a few examples of the negative self talk.
One thing I do know for sure is about travel. Traveling as a solo female, finding opportunities to live and work abroad, and how to manage a healthy frame of mind while traveling. And I’ve decided to solely focus on helping other women with these topics for 2016. I mean I’ve been doing it all along for the past almost 5 years that this website has been live. But for 2016 there will be more posts and resources to provide guidance.
One of the most helpful pieces of advice I can give anyone when it comes traveling is using positive affirmations! Say what?? Yes! Trust me on this one. I sat down the other day and thought about the thread that weaved together all of my travel experiences. And what helped to bring them into fruition. It’s the positive self talk and mental framework that has carried me forward all these years.
I know…you’re not completely convinced are you? OK, let’s try something here. Imagine you wake up every morning with the same three thoughts:
- I hate my life
- I hate my job
- Everything sucks!
Your entire day will follow suit in creating a negative environment to assist you in the self fulfilling prophecies of those three thoughts. If you end up missing the train for work, falling down the stairs and continue to watch opportunities pass you by because you hate everything, well you created that environment. You told the universe exactly how much you don’t appreciate everything you’ve been given.
Still with me? OK, now let’s try the opposite. You wake up every morning and upon opening your eyes you say these three things:
- Thank you!
- I love my life
- I will accomplish all that is in my power today
Those positive affirmations will change how you progress into your day. Trust me! It works. Have you ever heard anyone say ” This too shall pass”? That is an affirmation! Use it when things are falling apart and watch how quickly your outlook changes. When I applied to become a volunteer I remember using tons of different affirmations to get me through. The process lasted for about 18 months from start to finish and I’m pretty sure some of my hair fell out.
Just changing your mindset is the first step to starting your travel journey. You have to believe that you CAN and you WILL. Then all the other parts of the puzzle like creating a budget, planning your itinerary, and packing for the journey, will fall into place.
If this is all new information to you it may be a little overwhelming along with the fact that I know you are still trying to figure out if this really works.
It does!
I believe in it so much that I created a set of 31 Travel Affirmation cards for you to download. Complete with instructions on how to use them! I searched the internet to see if such a thing even existed already. There are multiple types of affirmation cards but I couldn’t find any specifically for travel. Yay me for creating the first ever Travel Affirmation Cards! (I think hehehe).
If you are already subscribed to the email list you’ll receive your travel affirmation cards shortly. If not just sign up and you’ll receive them instantly to your email.
I really hope this proves to be helpful to those that take the initiative and use them. Feel free to send me an email if you need help or have any questions on how to use them that aren’t answered in the instructions.
Stay blessed!
-Tamara