Hellooooooo my love! ??

Just got back from an amazingly gorgeous trip to Portugal {specifically — Lisbon} and I have so much to share!

Will I get to share all those juices I have in my mind to share thou?
Prob not ?

But I will do my best to get the most important stuff out.

??First I want to ask a huge favor!??

I set up a new IG account and am getting it rolling piece-by-piece.

? In it there will be more frequent updates {?? hello once in a quarter posts from over here ?}, and the topics just as I do here : mindset work and perception shift, online biz, life’s musings and of course… art!

‼️Now if you *think* you are already following me over there, I am almost positively sure you are not, my love.

Did you ever see me posting things about Palestine in my stories? ??

You did?

Great! So that’s NOT the new account. ??‍♀️ That’s the old one. {That’s actually one of the reasons I had to make that old account private and eventually stop posting about it ?}

THIS is the account I’m talking about ??

{Give me a follow riiight here, would ya? ? >> Click!}

And as you can see…

There's already TWO Portugal highlights filled with goodness in it!?

Inside those highlights you’ll find:

? São Jorge Castle and its darling peacocks ?
??‍♀️The fairy tale like city of Sintra
? Monserrat Palace and its GORGEOUS Arab influence
?The mind blowing nature intertwined with ruins. So so so beautiful! ?
?The curvy juices of the Initiation Well
? The cutest swirly tiny towers
? Me, being all surprised that people over there speak…Portuguese
? And of course the gorgeousness, quaint and colorful streets of Lisbon!

and that my love is — so far what I have posted!

I’m back in good ol’ Texas {yeehaw ?} and dropping my travel stories {in my Stories ?} a bit day-by-day. So more juices coming!

Now… I rarely pop in your inbox but when I do, I DO bring some good stuff to think about!

?? So let's get to some Portugal juiciness and the specific insight I want to bring to you right now.

Today’s topic:

⭐️ You are never late, never behind, and your own pace is ideal.

I am not even talking about trips here.

I’m talking about life in general.

Here’s the thing love — as we go through life, we learn certain rules and end up internalizing certain “shoulds” and expectations about ourselves based on said rules.

We can see that in pretty much everything we do — from day-to-day thing of how we “should” dress within the context we are in, going from the timing of our lives, when this or that is supposed to happen and how it will look like, until we get to some bigger topics of how life and the universe works for us.

And with that, we have to ALWAYS keep in mind that ??

What we learned and currently accept in our day-to-day lives is *never* set in stone.

We CAN experience things in a different way if we dare to first look at them, see what doesn’t work for us and then challenge it.

??My most recent examples happening throughout this trip to Portugal.

There was this belief about myself I kept bumping against:

✈️ I don't know how to "do" travel "right"

There has always being this feeling that I am “doing” this travel thing completely wrong and it is a waste of time and money.

This time I wanted it to be different thou.

Because I’ll never be able to enjoy my trips fully if I let this weird feeling linger around every time. I knew that digging in and flipping the script of wherever crap I was believing on was in order.

? So I set myself on a quest to find out :

Why on freaking earth I felt so “wrong” while traveling?

And within that, I found three entangled parts that build up A LOT of guilt over the years:

1. My night owl schedule??️

Main issue being:   if I am a night owl and not up for partying like it’s 1999, I am going to miss all the fun throughout the day because I started mine already “late”.

2. My preference for a no-plans, free-flowing schedule??️

Main issue being:   everything is supposed to be planned and scheduled ahead of time. Even more as a tourist. Just showing up at museums, historical sites, sigh seen spots, etc at wherever time I want is not how it works.

3. “Não sufoque o artista” or “don’t suffocate the artist” ??

{a meme running around Brazilian social media about not pressuring and letting the person do their own thing}

Main issue being:   I really really dislike being rushed. My default mode is to do things at my own pace {and my pace is fast, mind you!} but having to stress over scheduling details and time frame constrains…. on a TRIP? In a brand new environment, city, country {and sometimes even language} that I’ve never been around before? That is a hard and rock solid – no! I’ll take my time to understand and get familiar with the new environment I’m in. And it might take more time than expected. Or less.

? Side note: I know that most of the things I am mentioning here have no wiggle room in most people’s traveling moments and challenging those is not even an option. The whole point of this post is not to define what is travelling “right” {as if that even exists!} but to point out how we do things by default because we think that’s how they are “supposed” to be. Even when there is room to challenge things, we don’t do it because we don’t realize we can. So adapt the story to your reality, love — we all have things that we do without questioning because… that’s just “how it is”

Ok, back to the story:

Now, combining all three parts above what do we have here?

?? A night owl who just wants to be free-flowing without any plans while not being rushed throughout process. ????‍♀️?

“Well, that’s not how you “get the most” out of a trip, Raine!”
? My mind would conclude.

And with that, in a blink of an eye, I trapped myself in this feeling of not knowing how to “vacation” like normal people.

Through this whole process, on this trip specifically, it was VERY clear to me the inner battle going on:

◐ One side there were all those “shoulds” and rules that were screaming at me telling me that I am doing it all wrong.
◑ On the other side I was being fully aware that — those are just social constructs and twisted perceptions I picked up along the way and they are not real.

Over the years,  way more often than I like to admit I let the “should” side of my brain rule and the little stingy of guilt permeating me throughout and after most of my trips.

I’d think to myself:

? “You COULD have done so much more! You COULD have enjoyed SO much more and seeing SO much more if only…. you were more organized, had actually made some plans and had a normal day scheduled like everyone else.”

So I always had a great time on solo trips but consistently that little nagging would permeate my days, specially once I was back.

??This time I knew better thou.

This time I knew better than to beat myself up for some perceived way of experiencing solo trips.

This time I trusted that what I was looking for — history, nature and a sense of adventure and newness — would find me no matter what

Regardless of *when* I started my day and *if* any plans were made in advance, I’d do an awesome job of “vacationing”.

Now, I have embraced this certainty here and there in some other trips and OF COURSE the results were amazing! {that one time I picked an island in Greece to visit and AFTER getting there realizing the oldest Olive Tree lives 30 mins from where I was at? Please ?}

But this time I wanted that to be the majority of the time, not a bit here and there. The whole trip if possible.

And I committed to it!

Every time I’d feel guilty about my own slow-free-flowing process I’d go harder on it!

?? I’d go harder on shifting my perspective even more and shift my focus to “I’ll have a great trip EXACTLY because I am sticking to my own flow and way of doing things.”

? Now my love, when I tell you that everything seemed to magically adapt to my own pace I am not even making it justice! From castles that stayed open way too late, to mind-blowing sunset on top of said castles, to huge points of attraction vanishing their lines out of the blue, to some parallel realities where I felt was back home in my 20s bouncing around town jumping from the most unique art exhibits, gallery openings, poetry and music gatherings and the unexpected “roda de samba” where actual Brazilians gathered in the street to play… everything felt so right and fitting to exactly what I needed in every moment.

As I flipped the script in my head about what a well enjoyed trip “should” look like and took myself off the hook about planning, timelines and schedules, I opened up room for things to flow.

?None of this sweet chain of events would have been possible at all hadn’t I flipped the script inside of me and trusted {deeply trusted} that my pace, and my way of “vacationing” is completely perfect for me and how it is meant to be.

So love… today I invite you to challenge something that makes you feel bad about yourself.

?? Why does it make you feel bad? Is it actually you, or is it the perception of you in relation to what you learn you are “supposed” to be?

Truly, you get to decide how things work for you, what suits you and what doesn't.

Your own pace, your own process and your own way of doing things ARE the magic that creates the BESTEST experience for *you*

No parts of how you operate in life is wrong, off or lacking.

And if there’s something in you telling you so, look at that damn thing in the eye and acknowledge that it is just a learned perception of how things are “supposed to be”

?Flip that crap on its head and go on to frolic about life in a way that suits YOU and your natural flow.

Things will move around you and experiences will change.

Don’t even trust me on that!

Give it a try for yourself and experience it! Go on and create those things for yourself. Practice with small, easy to believe shifts so you can build up trust that things are meant to be experienced in a way that works for you.

Now love, this post is gigantic already and that one extra story I was going to tell you with pictures, {?} will have to be on a separate post.

?? HOWEVER there is plenty of Portugal beauty as well as the location and environments where those ‘lil miracle stories happened already posted in my stories on my new IG. If you want to follow along {I am posting more about the trip every other day!} and check out the other two stories I already posted, come on over!??

?? Look for the São Jorge Castle {with the cute peacocks} and the Initiation Well.

AND don’t forget to give me a follow, ya? ??To help grow the channel. Those initial ones are always so important! ?

Click right here to see my IG or the image below??

Many Smooches!

{ok just one ? I can’t resist!??}

*ahem* it’s too beautiful! ? I can’t help it. One more!

Ok, I am done, done now. ? Promise ??

Smooches again!