I'm sharing a conversation from Kellie Stirling's podcast Talkin About Midlife where I'm visiting as a guest rather than a solo host or interviewer. We started from the very beginning: Saint Lucia at birth, Canada at 12, then India for my first teaching job, then Sudan, Japan, and finally Prague, where I've been for thirteen years.

Somewhere in all of that, a Sufi teacher in India said something to me in my mid-twenties that's still relevant to me and an important reminder more than twenty years later. It directly connects to one of my key ideas these days: there is a real difference between searching for yourself and meeting yourself.

In this episode:

• Saint Lucia to Prague
• The Sufi teacher's reading
• Training the nervous system abroad
• Searching vs. meeting yourself
• Midlife, identity, and new roles
• 20% more enjoyment

This episode is for you if:

• You've been traveling for years and still feel like you're looking for something, and you're not sure whether you're going toward it or away from it
• You're a woman over 40 who wants to hear the full long version of how someone became a solo traveler, not the edited highlight version where it all clicked one afternoon
• You want to understand what actually separates intentional solo travel from just going somewhere alone, because you've been wondering if you're doing it right
• You've heard of the RAIN meditation but never heard someone describe using it while buried in fermented rice sand in Japan, with cotton balls in their ears

Free Resources:

• Damianne's free guide to start solo travel
• Decide Your Trip workshop to figure out your first or next solo trip

Meet Kellie Stirling:

Kellie is the host of Talkin About Midlife, a podcast about life, health, love, relationships, the inner world, aging, and what it means to be human in a female body at this time in life. Kellie is also a somatic experiencing practitioner. Find her show wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more about her podcast and follow at https://www.kelliestirling.com/podcasts


About Freedom Looks Like This:

Freedom Looks Like This is a podcast for women over 40 who want to travel solo, or who already do, and want to go deeper. Host Damianne President explores self-trust, decision-making, and what it actually takes to stop waiting and start moving. New episodes every Tuesday. For solo female travelers, midlife women, and anyone who suspects that the real barrier isn't logistics.

Email: contact@changesbigandsmall.com

Support the show

Join the next Solo Trip Decision Workshop live on June 20. It's for women who've decided they want to take a solo trip and want help deciding the trip they actually want: https://freedomlookslikethis.com/training

Email: contact@freedomlookslikethis.com

Join Skool: https://freedomlookslikethis.com/community