So courageous?

"You have a lot of courage." Many people have said that to me. Back home and also during my trip in South America when they heard I was traveling alone. "Aren't you afraid?" No. Why? I was only afraid when traveling in a bus on some small mountain roads or when I saw a snake on a hiking trail. And before I started the whole trip. That was the hardest part. Could I really do it? Leave everything in Finland for four months?

"You are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be. --- The most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step. Making the first decision." -Robyn Davidson: 'Tracks'-

Once I talked about my travels with one of our top lawyers, actually nowadays the CEO (I work as an assistant at a law firm), and he said he would never have the courage to do a trip like that. Well, I would never have the courage to go to the court to defend a case, neither the ability to do it convincingly. In South America I reacted to some minor disappointments or problems by starting to cry. But maybe courage and strength is not always about keeping a pokerface. Maybe it is about exposing oneself to new situations, knowing that you might act emotionally. Knowing that you might even look and feel silly reacting that way. But also knowing that it won't break you. You can accept the feeling, let it out and continue knowing that you will survive, knowing that deep down you are as strong as you've always been.

“Courage does not mean the absence of fear, but the ability not to let yourself be paralyzed by that fear.” -Paulo Coelho-

Really, if I have been able to live alone, why would I not be able to travel alone?

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." -Franklin D. Roosevelt-