Going Solo

Monday 17 June 2013


This time last year, the idea of doing things alone was completely alien to me. I've always been at my most confident with my friends around me - I suppose most people are. As a child I was painfully shy, and hated going to after school clubs that my friends didn't go to, it was extremely tough for my ever encouraging parents to get me to agree to go to these things.

When I decided to go to Australia, I realised that none of my friends were going to be coming with me - many of them are in serious relationships and wouldn't leave their partner, some were still studying and a couple of others had been in the lucky little percentage of graduates who actually had managed to get a job in their chosen field. So if I was going to do it, I would have to do it solo.

Now obviously I didn't go completely on my own. I flew out on a group flight with BUNAC, and instantly bonded with my new companions. Once we got to Sydney I formed an incredibly close friendship with a couple of the girls, and spent weeks seeing the sights of Sydney with them. There came a point, however, once I had decided not to get a job and spend the remaining weeks of my trip travelling, that I had to decide what I was going to do with my time. Gemma and Emily couldn't come to Melbourne with me, but I desperately wanted to go there before I went home. So I had a choice to make. Do I miss out on seeing a city I've always wanted to visit because no-one can come with me, or do I bite the bullet and go? At the time, I was in Port Douglas with my friend Lynsey, and I had a good long think about it.

I had flown to Hong Kong and Sydney with the BUNAC group, but my trip to Port Douglas was organised by me and me alone. I booked a flight on my own, took the bus from Cairns airport to Port Douglas on my own and stayed in accommodation on my own, without giving it a second thought. So what was stopping me spending a couple of days exploring Melbourne by myself? With that in mind, I took the plunge and spent an amazing weekend in Melbourne. Granted I had dinner with my university friend Stacy both nights, but I had so much fun exploring the city by myself. The other girls in my dorm room in the hostel were lovely, and when I decided I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't go on the Neighbours tour, even though I was on my own, I met lots of other crazy Neighbours fans like myself! Were there moments when I thought ''aww I wish someone was with me to point that out to''? Sure, of course there were! But that's where vlogging came in handy!

Over the past year, I've also attended a lot of blogger events on my own, and that's led to me making some lovely friends in the Scottish blogging world, who I always look forward to seeing at meet-ups. Now I don't even think about it when I arrive at an event, because I know that even if my other blogging friends haven't arrived yet, it's only minutes before you're discussing the latest blog post trends, that argument between so-and-so and so-and-so on twitter, and having a laugh about how insane it sounds when you tell your non-blogger friends you're off to drink cocktails with a bunch of people you met on twitter!

Later this week I'm off to a gig in Glasgow by myself, something that pre-2013 Lynsey would never have done. I would have thought ''aww, I wish I had someone to go with'', and missed out on seeing an artist I absolutely adore because I'd think it seemed sad to go by myself! Now I feel like I look at things in a totally different way. Doing things by yourself is healthy, and shows that you don't need the validation of other people to make you happy. Do I constantly complain about never meeting the right guy? Absolutely. Would I choose to celebrate a birthday or some other special occasion on my own? Definitely not. But when push comes to shove, if there's something I want to do, or somewhere I want to go and none of my friends or family are able to come with me, I won't hesitate to do it now. Being alone isn't the same as being lonely! It just means you're brave enough to do what you want to do, and it's so rewarding to prove to yourself that you can do it on your own!

This post sort of came out of nowhere, but I hope it strikes a chord with some of you! Let me know if this is something you've experienced, and let's all make a pact to be brave and step outside our comfort zones more often from now on! :)

Thanks for reading!

8 comments:

  1. Wow. I wish I could be as brave as that. My sister went to Australia by herself for a whole year and I don't know how she did it. I don't even really like going into town by myself! Haha. I'd maybe consider a bloggers meet up someday once I'm a bit better at the whole blogging thing though. Maybe. If I'm feeling brave.

    Debi
    http://dibdabdebs.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww you absolutely should! Everyone feels exactly the same when you arrive at your first blogger event or meet up, it's nerve wracking to arrive on your own for the first time when you haven't met anyone before, but it's so worth it. Everyone in the Scottish blogging community is so lovely and welcoming, and the meet ups are always such good fun! :) x

      Delete
  2. i really loved this post! i definitely understand the feeling of being a bit scared to do something alone and it's nice to know that you had an amazing time doing things by yourself!
    sara x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw thanks lovely! Yeah, I really did :) It can be scary, but it's so worth it! xx

      Delete
  3. This post actually relates to my life so much at the moment and its amazing to read that someone else had the same thoughts as me. I am currently on a 6 month gap year around Europe and doing most of it on my own. Even though I am with some of my family ( i'm Australian but they are all english) I just spent 5 weeks Volunteering in Morocco. I went over there completely by myself but was volunteering with a project. It was the most challenging thing I have ever done but now I can look back and see that I lived in a city, where nobody spoke english, basically by myself and had the most outstanding time doing it!

    It actually inspired me to blog about it! I still miss my friends like crazy and have 4 months to go (a lot of it alone) but travelling alone seriously is so rewarding and it has given me independence I didn't know I had.

    Ps. I am in love with your blog! defiantly following!

    http://alittlebitirrelevant.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww thank you so much! Well done you, that all sounds amazing, and so brave. It can be such a scary thing to really push yourself to do these things, but it really is worth it! And it's true, you find a confidence and independence that you really didn't know you had and that's so exciting! xx

      Delete
  4. This post is amazing, though I do a lot of things myself I still really have to push myself to not miss out on certain things! For example I hate walking into a bar on my own before my friends have arrived! Doing things alone is really important, amazing post Lynsey! :) x

    ReplyDelete