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Now let’s dive in.
No matter how much I love travelling, it always feels a little challenging to leave my comfortable home space for somewhere unfamiliar.
Each trip begins with uncertainty lurking at the door. I don't know what the new city will feel like. Yet, every single time I've gone, I've ended up falling in love with travelling more and more—even with all the unknowns that come along.
I notice my thinking when I'm avoiding travel, even when I want to go. Most of the time, my mind is trying to avoid discomfort and forecast my feelings so that my future self is prepared to handle them. The basic survival instinct is playing out here—except now, survival means the comfort and security of a home-like space.
Since I still want to travel the world, I found a little hack: reduce the unknowns just enough to make my mind feel safe. I book my tickets, arrange my first few days of stay, schedule an airport pickup (especially in the mountains), and pack some homemade snacks. Once I've handled my nervous system's basic needs for predictability, something magical happens: I become curious instead of cautious. Suddenly, my mind thinks, Okay, I know what's going to happen—at least a little. Even a small sense of control helps. And once I'm there, I meet the unfamiliar gradually—a walk nearby, a chat with a local, buying fruit—and my mind relaxes: She knows what she's doing.
Each solo trip has helped me grow. And not just in travel—this approach holds true for almost everything unfamiliar I've tried in life. My growth has always been proportional to the newness I'm willing to step into. The more I wander into unfamiliar territory, the more I discover: what exists, what I like, what I resist, and the kind of life I want to build. It lets me meet myself, again and again.
I remember following this same approach when I left my job and dove into freelancing. I stuck to gigs for writing content, which I felt confident with, to earn my living while learning a new tool and taking on small paid projects that involved using that tool.
And yet, it's never easy. A part of me still clings to the familiar. This is the ambiguity effect: we stick to options that feel more certain, even if they're not always better. It's the same reason so many people stay in jobs they dislike, in relationships that drain them, or in lifestyles that don't serve them—simply because they're familiar.
The irony is that by honoring my need for some certainty, I've become more willing to embrace uncertainty.
For me, the balance of the known and the unknown is where growth happens. It's in that gentle stretch between what feels safe and what feels possible.
Take a Little Pause 🌼
What small familiar thing could you bring with you into your next unfamiliar territory?
I’d love to hear. 😊
Now?
Sharing what I’m watching, reading, and learning!
📺 Slowly watching: Watched ‘It Ends with Us’. Any other suggestions?
📖 Happily reading: Practical Yoga Psychology by Dr. Rishi Vivekananda, Ask This Book A Question by Vicki Tan, Vagabonding by Rolf Potts (More book recs? Check my list!)
🎨 Doing: Handbuilding sculptures with this picturesque view :)
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Take care! 💛
Rachna
Take a Little Pause is a weekly newsletter where I share my reflections and experiments in living a wholehearted life. Each post comes with visuals illustrated by me. If you’re on a similar journey, subscribe for free or become a paid Patreon to support my writing and help bring my dream of publishing a coffee-table book to life. 💛
So on point!
Using comfort to establish a foundation is so smart.
From that foundation, we can explore and push our comfort to an even higher foundation.