Solo Travel & Freedom

Did you go to New Zealand by yourself? I can’t even drive to the airport alone without major anxiety! That was me, in my forties, until two years ago.

I moved to New York from Israel when I was eight years old. This was the first time I was on an airplane and the beginning of my love affair with travel. The big buildings, the mélange of languages, the smell of roasted chestnuts; it was easy to fall in love with NYC.

Shortly thereafter my family started taking road trips throughout the U.S.; small cities, big cities, waffles with ice…

I feel like the only person who didn’t start baking this year.

If your newsfeeds looked anything like mine in 2020, every soul across the globe seems to have started baking from sourdough to cookies to every variety imaginable and beyond of challah; sesame, cinnamon, chocolate, rainbow-colored, you name it! With restaurants at limited capacity or closed and people at home with way too much time on their hands, ovens have gotten their spotlight in 2020.

I, however, channeled my creative energy outside the kitchen and onto a keyboard; bringing my insides out and giving my words wings.

Writing became…

You meet her. You feel all the feels and all the butterflies. You decide she’s the one, put a ring on her finger, and live happily ever after. The End.

And then you wake up to your cluttered home with a heap of unpaid bills, a princess in sweatpants that you only see in passing between kids and work, and resentment and power struggles that replaced the butterflies years ago. Good morning, have a great day.

It turns out that marriage is hard work and that happily ever after is just make-believe. When pretend-play is over and you’re in the…

POETRY/HAIKU

Navigating this
New world where old meets new and
I flounder; now what?

The world is open and after a year plus in lockdowns, homeschools, and isolation — we should be running into the streets, but are we?

There is still so much fear, so much unknown, and a collective change and shift have taken place globally. We’ve all changed, the world has changed; how do we plug our old selves back in as we get back out into the world?

Do I go back out as old me or new me?

Do I even know how to be new…

Work travel resumes
Airports, people, heels, cocktails
Taste of my old life.

I just returned from my first since-covid business trip; a weird experience.

We’ve all had many firsts lately as the world has been returning to some sort of pandemic normalcy, and business travel is something I couldn’t wait to get back to. Yet when I did get a taste of my old life, it wasn’t as sweet as I’d remembered and though the trip was tons of fun — I am exhausted.

I quickly reverted back to pre-pandemic behaviors; assumed a go-go-go attitude and a coffee till cocktails…

Walk through that door

Last week we asked ourselves who do we want to be, and we dared to look within and explore. Did you give this some thought? Tell us below.

This week, I invite you to take this one step further and dare to walk through that door — your door — the one beyond which lie all your wishes, hopes, and dreams; the door of infinite possibilities.

What are your wishes, hopes, and dreams?

If fear wasn’t a factor — what might be possible for you and your life?

What other obstacles might be in the way of your willingness to…