1. You will meet amazing people.

While traveling with friends or a significant other can be a lot of fun, traveling solo for a certain amount of time can prove to be one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do because of the great people you’ll meet.

When we travel with friends or a partner, we tend to stick to that little group of familiar faces and even though you’ll meet new people, the dynamics and interactions won’t be as deep and fulfilling. While you’re on your own on the road, you’re much more eager to meet travel buddies, team up with other travelers and generally reach out more in order to socialize.

2. The overwhelming sense of absolute freedom.

When you travel on your own and you start meeting people and making awesome friends, you’ll probably team up with travel buddies and end up expanding your travel plans. You’ll probably change your plans once you hear about that amazing waterfall, that incredible desert beach, the opportunity to bungee jump from a high bridge, or taste a special delicacy you’ll only find off the beaten track.

When you’re traveling, you’re open to change and you’ll welcome it with open arms. The great thing is that you don’t have to fit into a group’s agenda, give explanations or disappoint anyone, you can follow your rhythm, desires and move like the wind.

3. Traveling alone challenges your fears and insecurities

This is a big one, especially if it’s your first solo experience. I remember the first time I traveled when I was 18 and moved to London on my own for 3 months to be an au pair and live with a local family. I was terrified of the unknown, but if I would have surrendered to that fear, I would have never get to know the strong, courageous and adventurous side of me. I was scared, but I did it anyways and by the 3rd day, I was really proud of myself. From then on I never let fear stop me. 16 years and many adventures later, I still have a little voice inside my head, asking: “What if something goes wrong?” “What if you get into trouble?” This is normal and perfectly human; fear exists for our own protection and boosts our awareness. But we shouldn’t let it control our lives.

Safety can be a great comfort, but common sense is the key. Read and research a lot before you travel, check out hostel reviews, and research feedback from other travelers in forums and blogs. Respect the local culture and I guarantee you’ll be fine.

Read more by Yara Coelho at Thought Catalog

~ Guy Finley

One of the classic definitions of prayer tells us that prayer is raising mind and heart to God. In essence, that says it all. The problem is that often we raise our minds but not our hearts. Our prayer tends to be intellectual but not affective and we tend to think of prayer more as a way of gaining insight than as way of being touched in the heart.

But prayer is ultimately about love not insight. It is meant to establish friendship. Friendship, as we know, is not as much a question of having insight into each others’ lives as it is of mutually touching each other in affection and understanding. Friendship, as John of the Cross puts it, is a question of attaining “boldness with each other.” When we have touched each others’ lives deeply, we can be “bold” with each other. We can then ask each other for help, ask for each other’s presence without needing an excuse, share a feeling, share an insight, or even just share a joke. Good friendship inspires “boldness”.

The object of prayer is precisely to try to attain this kind of “boldness” with God, to try to reach a point where we are comfortable enough with God to ask for help, to share a feeling, to share an insight, or even to share a joke, just as we would with a trusted friend. But to reach this kind of trust we must first let God touch us in the heart, and not just in insight. This means that prayer is not so much a question of having beautiful thoughts about God as it is of feeling God’s affection for us. Sadly that is precisely what we generally miss in prayer, the experience of God’s affection.

~ Kahlil Gibran