“I’m just not good at that” — said every woman holding herself Back
The Travel Sessions: Vol. 7 The Stories We Outgrow
Hi, welcome to the seventh letter in The Travel Sessions. This one’s a little personal, and it starts with a dead corn plant. (RIP.) But really, it’s about something bigger: the quiet stories we tell ourselves about who we are — and what we’re “just not good at."
Thought Bite
You have all the ingredients; it's time to use them.
From the Road
Back to the subject line: the thing we all do, often without noticing, but at what cost? I’m talking about stories. The ones we quietly repeat about who we are and what we’re not.
“I’m not a plant person.”
“I’m just bad at math.”
“I’ll never be flexible enough for yoga.”
They sound harmless, but they shape us more than we realize. They discourage us from even trying, because we’ve already decided it’s not worth the effort. That it’s not us.
I had one about gardening for years. (Actual gardening, not TikTok gardening, which comes naturally to me, thanks.) The final nail in the coffin? A gorgeous corn plant I adored… shriveled into brown, crispy cones. It had been lighting up my Boulder condo with its energy, and I let it die.
So I kept telling myself: I just don’t have a green thumb.
But was that actually true? Or was I just not really trying?
(Oof.)
Yes, some things we might never master, for me, that’s still math. (I’m a words girl through and through.) But these little stories we repeat can quietly turn into self-fulfilling prophecies.
You tell yourself you're bad in the kitchen, and next thing you know you're microwave-reliant forever. You decide you're not "the type" to travel solo… and you never even book the flight.
So this is your gentle nudge to try the thing you’ve quietly written off. The one you’ve decided “just isn’t for you.”
Try it more than once. Give yourself 21 days. Be bad at it. Kill a few plants. (I just planted papaya, basil, soursop, and rosemary — we’ll see who survives.)
We can only go up from here.
And as for math? Let’s just say I open spreadsheets now with zero fear… as long as I have a calculator.
Keep being bold.
xo,
Melanie
The Current
Just Sayin': $200 RT Flights to Hawaii.
A flight-tracking profile I follow on Threads just shared insane deals — like round-trip flights from LA to Hawaii for $300 over the next three months.
No, I don’t live in LA. You might not either. But this is still the kind of travel intel worth knowing or sending to your friend who does live in Southern California (lucky girl).
In the Flow: 1:1 Travel Planning Sessions
Feeling pulled to take a solo trip but overwhelmed by where to start? Let’s map out a soulful travel plan — just for you. The consults are part dream-sesh, part logistics, and all about creating your next chapter abroad.