Some Things Are Universal
Hello friend. Welcome Back! I’m glad you’re here with me today! I want to tell you about how Travel Empath came to be.
There was a moment last year, where the seed of this blog was planted. It happened while I was at the Amalfi Coast. My partner and I traveled to Italy because a friend of his (formerly a fan of his work then they became friends over time.) invited us to her wedding. We decided to make a vacation of it and it was a most excellent decision. It was also the first time I had taken an international vacation and have my travel be 100% personal. Everything I had done before then was tied to work in some way or another and I left that job because I was tired of my work putting me on the road constantly. This was the first time that I got to choose everything I wanted, save for the specific date because of the wedding.
Just ONE of the reception areas. Holy Sh-!!
We went in late September 2022. It was the end of the tourist season so there weren’t too many people around and we stayed at this beautiful hotel on the cliff side. It was the day after the wedding, and the bride wanted to have dinner with us before we headed home the next day.
The view from our table the night before we left.
We were a table of seven. Three couples and a child sitting just inside the balcony because the nighttime insects were particularly obnoxious that evening. The sun had set and we had all finished our dinners and dessert and were talking over the last of the table wine. (Because in Italy, there is ALWAYS table wine.) The conversation has turned to everyone’s careers. The bride’s career is art-focused, much like my partner who specializes in video game art development. Everyone was talking about how they were trying to hustle and advance their careers. The art world is rough, to say the least, between having to self-promote and competing with AI, they were all feeling a bit overwhelmed. One of her friends mentioned a job opportunity that might be a job good venture for him, but he was showing signs of self-doubt and imposter syndrome. I asked him why he didn’t just go ahead and try for the opportunity. He expressed his desire to improve his skill set some more over the course of a year or two at least.
And for some reason, something in me flipped a switch. I went from asking curiously to being his number-one cheerleader and telling him to just go for it. I had seen the exact same behavior from my partner just a year prior to this conversation when he changed video game companies and again recently before the trip when he applied for his dream job in the same company. Both times I had to give him hard love and support because his imposter syndrome nearly convinced him not to try at all. I was seeing the same energy from this Italian man that I met just a day ago.
Thank you SNL
After I got through giving him the “Just Do It” speech (Thanks Nike for a great slogan.) it occurred to me that even thousands of miles away from my home, I am having the same conversations with people who come from completely different places. We all share the human experience. We all feel things very deeply. I can be anywhere in the world and I will end up telling someone to go for their dreams and to push through that self-doubt. We all experience life, hope, and love alongside the experiences of loss, sorrow, and extreme challenge. Connection happens when we share those feelings and experiences.
I came away from that dinner feeling happy to have made so many new friends. The idea for Travel Empath wasn’t completely formed yet, but the seed of it had appeared. I have my wonderful Italian friends to thank for that fantastic conversation.
I have Brene Brown to thank for a lot of my personal growth. Her research into shame and vulnerability has made a huge impact on my own self-healing journey. If you’re looking for a new resource on your own self-journey, I would say that Brene’s work is required reading (or listening if you prefer podcasts. She’s got a podcast too!)
If you would like to support this blog, you can do so by donating to the fees that keep this site running. Thank you!
