Feel the FEAR, Travel ANYWAY!

Thank you to Tiffany Hawk for including me in her article, “How to Make Dreams Happen. Right Now. Even if You’re Scared,” on the Huffington Post.

The article begins:

Feel the fear and do it anyway. More than 25 years after Susan Jeffers released a bestselling book by that title, the go-get ’em phrase remains a mantra for the world’s adventurous and successful. Hell, I never even read the book, but its title alone changed my life forever.

When my college friends went backpacking around Europe after graduation, I burned with envy. I was dying to see the places I’d spent four years learning about, but I didn’t have anything resembling a saving account, let alone a trust fund. Determined to finagle my way abroad, I had the bright idea that I’d become a flight attendant. I loved the idea of airplanes. I loved the idea of travel. The only problem? I was afraid to fly.

Quote from me:

Lisa Niver Rajna and her new husband, George Rajna, have turned a one-year sabbatical into a thriving travel-writing enterprise, a book, and a popular blog – Wesaidgotravel.com. It seems like a match made in heaven – the couple got married shortly after hitting the road together – but before they left for their trip, Lisa had her fair share of fears.

Before George, my boyfriend, and I left for a year sabbatical in Asia, I worried and I walked and I wondered what would happen. Under the moonlight in Fiji, I had said yes to his dream backpacking together for a year. Back in Los Angeles while preparing and planning, I had doubts. After years working at sea, I was not worried about what to do if I was ill, and I knew that if someone at home needed me, I was only a plane ride away. But I could not wrap my head around what if — we — did not work out. Finally, a friend said on one of our many walks, “Imagine he goes without you and you teach for another year. How will you feel when he returns from a year of adventure and you had another year in the classroom?” In that moment, I had clarity. I was going. No matter how it turned out, I wanted to try.

Read the full article: click here.

Learn more about our Travel Writing Contest judge, Tiffany Hawk: Click here.