I’m not a seasoned traveller and I’ve never had wild dreams of far flung adventures. I had no internal yearning to fly off to Thailand after school to ‘find myself’, nor a burning desire to backpack around the world, drinking in all it has to offer. The mere suggestion of solo travel like that terrifies me. The slow and steady safety net of home was quite enough for me – or so I thought.

Before The Blogcademy I’d travelled very little and never on my own (bar one short flight to Prague last Summer). In fact my latest jaunt over the Atlantic was my very first long haul flight on my lonesome. I like to think that I’m pretty industrious and, contrary to popular belief, I’m fairly streetwise under this hot pink exterior. I can read instructions, I know how to navigate from one terminal to the other (pro-tip: ask someone!) and booking an apartment to stay in or a car to pick you up really isn’t as daunting as for some reason I thought it would be. But I’m not afraid to admit that I was still a little nervous when Gareth dropped me off at Heathrow three weeks ago. What if I missed my connecting flight? What if I couldn’t find Gala at our designated meeting spot? What if my luggage got lost?

There were so many questions flying around my head, many of which could have stopped me getting on that plane completely. But you know what? I managed it all. I felt ever so grown up ordering breakfast on my own in the terminal and I even managed to upgrade my seat without much bother. As I plonked myself down in my extra-leg room loveliness a sweet family from Sheffield sat alongside me (thankfully their children were teenagers not screaming babies!) and we spent the whole flight gassing away, talking about each other’s respective trips and I loved giving the 16 year old girl haircare and tattoo tips (I’m sure her mother was ever so grateful!) But it wasn’t scary at all.

It’s OK to feel nervous about new experiences or feel scared about those big and small (sometimes the small ones can be just as sweat-inducing) steps that you are taking to further your business. Just don’t let them hold you back. Look them straight in the eye and shout out loud “I can do this, I can rely on myself and get this done!” Put one foot in front of the other and realise that it probably won’t be as scary as you’re imagining.

So why not let go of that fear and go on a wild adventure with yourself? I can’t wait to hear all about it when you come back.