Små Skridt.

 If you follow me on my social platforms (which you likely don't - as I lock those down and am selective about whom I let follow me), you have seen me hint that over the past six-ish years I have been really letting my agoraphobic side start to take center stage. 

And in the past three years, it's really thrived. (I tell everyone my life didn't skip a beat when the pandemic happened.)

It's not at all that I don't like people or are afraid of them. (Total opposite.) I've come to accept and articulate more clearly my issue... 

People's energy, emotions, and words overwhelm me.

I can only handle it in doses. 

"But you used to love traveling," a close friend said to me last year.

And I still do love the idea of traveling. And the act. But I very much prefer to do it solo. And in the past few years, I just haven't felt a pull to leave my house much.

Even for a local trip.

"Why would I go to Scottsdale or Flagstaff... Pay hundreds of dollars a month for an AirBnB that isn't as nice as my house, only to stay mostly inside?"

I have a full gym at my house. A swimming pool. A sauna big enough inside to do yoga. 

No... "Time off" for me over the past few years has meant waking up, not having to rush out the door to walk the dog before work begins, and ordering groceries delivered.

And then usually logging on to work to clean out my email inbox... Because stepping away from being a workaholic is always going to be life goals.

Anyway...

After accumulating f*ck tonne of travel points on a credit card, I had enough banked to get me to a destination that has been calling me for a few months and pay for a five star hotel for six nights.

Copenhagen.

I didn't have much interest in the Scandinavian countries before recent. But the lifestyle of comfort and the idea of meandering through a foreign city that is regarded as very safe calls to me. It seems like a good place to kick off my travel bug again.

So in late May I will be dropping the dog off with my parents and hopping on a plane. My first truly long-haul flight in over four years. 

I used to take four to six of these a year.

And it's making my mind swirl as I try to pull together a list of things I want to see and do while there... So that I don't default to my usual of tucking away in a hotel room, drinking coffee, and writing. I purposely booked myself into a chic but tiny room. And I may not even bring my laptop - forcing myself out of the desire to cocoon.

Ultimately, I will see the trip as a success if I check off 75% of my To Do list.

But until I get on that plane, my goal is to just get a To Do list together. One that won't feel overwhelming. 

Baby steps. 

Or, rather... "Små skridt."