How I Face My Fears Through Travel

Like anyone else, I have my share of fears. I always have from a very young age.

As the youngest of three children, I felt a sense of closeness to my mother that was hard to break away from, and I used to wonder how I would ever leave her behind.

But there is one thing that’s helped me spread my wings, and that has been travel. I have learned to face my fears through travel.

I left home for the first time at age 16 for a semester in Israel. We were pretty poor and didn’t really have the money to send me, but my grandfather offered to fund the program, which at the time cost a meager 1K. I got my first passport for the trip, as we had hardly ever crossed state lines, except for summer holidays in Florida. I had never left home for a long period at home, so it was a bold decision for a teen. I don’t remember much about it anymore but I remember hiking past waterfalls, dips in the Dead Sea, tasting falaffel for the first time. We were there during the Intifada, a war between Israel and the Palestinians and the air was tense. Our hosts were careful to protect us from harm, but the feeling of living in a war zone that didn’t actualy feel like a war zone has never left me. On the contrary. Israel felt like home.

I went back again as a college freshman. I had the Israel bug. I spent the year living with Israeli families on a kibbutz, moshav and worked in Jerusalem. I was forced to speak Hebrew and break out of my American shell. I met my first boyfriend. I worked in fields, picking oranges. I made bread in an overnight factory. I made food in a kibbutz kitchen. I hung out on an army base. I went to Egypt during winter break. I explored every inch of the country of Israel and fell in love with it in the process.

I went back to Israel several times during college. After college, I decided to go live abroad again and headed to England. Knowing no one, I took my passport and one suitcase and went to settle in London. I found a flat with two Amerian flat mates, a job and spent the year traveling through the UK and really coming into my own as a young woman.

After moving to NYC right after college, I never lost my sense of wanderlust. Living abroad instilled a passion for travel and seeing the world in me that’s larger than life, but what I really love about is how it’s helped teach me how to be brave.  I’ve backpacked through Europe. I’ve wandered through Vietnam. I’ve ventured through the Grand Canyon. I’ve wanderered near and far.

Later I became a mom. And parenthood is challenging. Some days are better than ever. Some days I need to be reminded of how brave I used to be to get through the challenges of being a special needs mom. Traveling helps me see who I am. It brings me back a healthier place that enables me to get through the tougher moments.

When I travel on my own, I can be as brave as I want to be. I can fly through trees (see above), wander the streets at night, ride a jet ski, eat daring cuisine. JUST BE ME.

Travel is my therapy. It’s restorative. It’s powerful.

It’s mine.

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