A Valentine’s Day Tribute to Celebrate the Strong Independent Woman.

(An Elephant Journal Article)

Image Credit: Matheus Bertelli/Pexels

I have been traveling solo since I was 25.

Like many others, I felt a deep longing to put my life’s essentials into a backpack and venture out into the unknown, with a trembling heart and a troubled, clouded mind.

I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I needed to be as far away as possible from the very things that broke me: an oppressive environment I didn’t belong to, a troubled family infested with secrets, a passionless job, and unfulfilling romance stories that were like a mirage in the middle of the Sahara Desert—ever fleeting the harder I chased them.

Through travelling alone, I fell in love with the idea of the warrior woman who was strong, independent, indestructible, and was able to give endlessly without needing anyone to fill her own cup.

She was my altar ego.

A lone wolf is what I believed I was: a fierce warrior, a free-spirited dervish, an everlasting wanderer, a truth seeker, and an adventure junkie—you name it!

I wholeheartedly embraced the idea that traveling alone is what I was destined to do for the rest my life, always seeking, but never fully arriving nor belonging to a destination or a person.

I was the embodiment of the strong, independent women whom we constantly admire in our films and read about in our modern feminist literature. Perhaps, most of us secretly wished to be like her—a true warrior goddess.

But as I continue to unravel the layers of my own trauma, and gradually leave the confines of my dark cocoon, I grow certain of one truth: keeping up with the image of the strong independent woman is exhausting as f**ck.

Click the link to read the full article published on Elephant Journal.

I truly enjoyed crafting this piece, and put so much passion, love, and emotions into it by tying it to my own story as a world-traveling feminist. If it inspired you, touched you, or resonated with you in any way, please leave a heart, comment, or like on the page below the article, or share it wide with the women/men in your life!