Reflections from My Wales Road Trip

Tune in or read the blog version below!

Our Family Road Trip to Wales

We just got back from a family road trip to Wales to visit Ragz side of the family. It was around six hours each way, and Baby Leven did so well in the car. I am just. So proud of my little traveler. As you guys know, baby Leven is quite well traveled already (check out our blog where I break down how we travel as a digital nomad family with a 3 month old). This isn’t his first road trip, although it is very bittersweet. As a first-time mom, every single time we travel with him or go on road trips with him, it is a different version of himself. So this road trip at five months was so different than when we went to Saima with him back at two months, and I’m really learning about the duality of motherhood, how.

I can be so proud and so happy watching him grow and looking back at old photos and videos of my baby growing. But at the same time, it literally feels like a knife is being jammed into my heart because time is just going by so fast and I’m always like, can you just stop growing now please? I’m sure many of you guys listening who also have children yourselves, you know exactly what I mean.

During this road trip, it was so expansive, and I just had so many revelations reflections that I really want to share with all of you. The amazing thing about traveling is you are always kind of forced outside of your day-to-day routine, out of your comfort zone, and you meet so many other people with different ways of living, different ways of thinking that help you stay true to who you are.

As a recap, we were in Wales for four days. We drove from Cornwall where Ragz immediate family lives, and we visited his aunts, his uncles, his cousins, his great aunts, and of course Leven met everyone he is related to on that side of the family. Obviously a lot of sweet, sweet core memories were made.

Our Journey as a Traveling Family

Every time we show up to a new location, we are often met by a lot of awe and wonder how are we traveling the world with a baby? And how did this American girl have a baby in Brazil with her British husband and now they’re in Wales? Like we get a lot of questions that I am always happy to answer. But I feel like the more you dig into our story of how we both work online, how we met in Bali, how we surf and travel the world, and now we’re traveling with our baby, it’s this underlying theme that neither Ragz nor I, we do not settle for the norm.

We do not conform to the norm, and we always understand that there is a status quo. You can either believe that you need to be a part of it, or you can defy the status quo and prove everyone wrong. We’ve adopted this mindset early on in our relationships, even before we met, and now with a baby. That is what we continue to bring to the table.

We are proving everyone wrong who says you can’t travel with a baby, you need to stay in one place. You need to settle down. And that is what we’ve heard growing up a lot when I was pregnant and now even with a baby. People always think that settling down is the right thing to do. They constantly ask about what we’re gonna do during school age and all of these questions from thinking that life has to be a certain way, but from going through it and living it.

Living True to Yourself

Know that it doesn’t have to apply to you, and you don’t have to conform if you don’t want to. You can always create your own path. You can figure it out when the time comes, and you don’t have to have all of the answers right now. It’s okay to just go with the flow. It’s okay to do what’s best in the moment and not have the next 2, 3, 5, 10 years planned out.

As long as you are living true to yourself and doing what makes you happy, then you do you. You do not need to prove yourself to anyone. You do not need to shift your values or your lifestyle to conform to the rest of the world if it does not make you happy. In one of my favorite books, originals by Adam Grant, he starts with the quote by George Bernard Shaw.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. What is the point in trying to adapt yourself to the world? So I give you permission here. You can either adapt or you can prove everyone wrong and create your own path.

You Create Your Story Every Day

The next reflection that dawned on me on this road trip was that every day you are creating your story and you are living a new normal day by day, you are inviting in a new reality. This is especially true now that I have entered into the chapter of motherhood. Originally, I had no idea what I was doing.

I had no idea what this was going to look like, and I still kind of don’t. But every single day that I choose to make these decisions as a mother, it’s writing my new story. The point is. Inviting in new chapters will always be tough because you’re never gonna know what to expect. It cannot be predefined because you’ve never lived it before, so it’s supposed to be scary and exciting at the same time.

Know that the next level version of you is already within you. I did not have to become a different person in order to become a mother. It was inside of me all along. The Millionaire Entrepreneur version of yourself is already. Within you. It just depends on all of these new thoughts, new actions that you’re taking in this next chapter that’s going to invite in the next level.

When I met all of Ragz’ family, most of them I was meeting for the first time. They saw me as a mother. They saw this new version of myself that just a few months ago. I had no idea what it would even be like, how I would act, how I would dress, how I would nurture. But every day you are creating this new reality until it is so clear that that is who you are.

Now, you do not have to be the same person you were yesterday. You do not have to be held to limiting beliefs that have proved themselves right in the past. You can always create a new reality for yourself. Day by day, you are proving everyone wrong and you are inviting in the next level. Yes, it will be tough.

Yes, it will be confusing at times. You might have no idea what you’re doing, but I promise you it will be so worth it.

Adapting to Changing Priorities in Life

Which brings me to the next revelation I kind of had while driving to Wales was that priorities in your life change. They’re constantly shifting and it’s okay. I think I’m at a point in life where I’ve just gone through so many identities and so many priority shifts that I don’t feel bad and I don’t feel guilty.

When it all changes. You might have loved being in a corporate job for years and years and years, but then one day you realize it’s not for you in this new chapter. Maybe you had kids, maybe you’re going through a breakup. Whatever it is, you’re able to shed that old identity. Or on the other hand, maybe for years and years and years, you’ve loved being an entrepreneur, but then you realized, oh, I actually prefer whatever it is.

Maybe more stability. Maybe a more social aspect or maybe just being in a certain city and getting access to a visa. Whatever it is, priorities change and it’s completely okay. Personally in this newest phase shift, I used to love creating and showing up online. I still do, but it looks a little differently now.

I am in a phase of automation and sharing heart to hearts when I truly feel like it. I do not like to be bound by some content creation machine that requires researching trends, always being in front of the camera, always being on top of content creation. I’ve loved that at one point, and maybe in the future, I’ll go back to it.

But I want to honor what authentically feels true to me right now, and you are able to do the same. I’ve gone through phase shifts where I loved living in cities and exploring cities. I’ve gone through shifts where I loved surfing and being in tropical destinations and being in remote islands. Now with a baby, I now prioritize great hospitals and great doctors for his first year of life, which I’ve honestly never considered before. But now it is a new reality. Maybe you don’t have children, maybe you don’t have a business, but know that if you did want to make massive shifts in your life, there is no better time to start than today.

You do not need to wait, and you do not need to convince yourself that sticking to old priorities is the only way forward.

Expanding Friendships Through Travel

The next reflection came from a really powerful conversation with a new friend that I met in Wales. It’s another reason why I love traveling. You meet people that expand you. You can meet really different people that help you recognize what you want to stay true to. This new friend. She was working close to minimum wage in Wales, and she was older, I would say, like around my parents’ age, close to retirement, but was telling me that she had nowhere near enough to retire, and she told me how.

This whole online business stuff is impossible to her, and it just goes way over her head. She wishes she could figure it out, but it just does not seem possible for her. And you could really tell that she was overwhelmed, that she had this desire, but was holding herself back. I tried explaining what I do online, what Ragz does online, and she kind of just looked at me blankly.

Without a clue of what I was saying and what all of these online terms meant. After a few more conversations with my new friend, we entered in another conversation with someone else and they were saying how most people in Wales don’t even make $300 a day. The minimum wage is super low and there is a cost of living crisis around where they were living.

So the first thing that stuck out to me with this new friend was her belief that it was impossible for her to learn how to make money online. I remember when I was not making money online, but I knew that if other people were doing it, I would be able to as well. And I previously had no idea what any of these online terms meant.

I learned and I read books (these 5 were the most impactful to my entrepreneurial journey) I learned from other entrepreneurs. I did it myself, and I created this new reality for myself when she said that most people in Wales don’t even make $300 a day. Going back to my first download that I shared at the beginning of this episode, you can either choose to conform to that belief or you can prove them all wrong.

So in my mind. I was thinking about how I make more than $300 a day just in passive income. In my business that I didn’t have five years ago, I created this all from scratch and this is a new reality. I don’t even have to work for the $300 a day, it just comes into my bank account. So it truly is this cycle of believing that it is possible for you learning how to, from sources who have been there and done that, and then doing it yourself.

Taking action and applying it to your own life to create this new reality. Because who is to say that you must make minimum wage? Who is to say that you are only capable of living one way and making one salary and sticking to an old identity if it’s not serving you? And the answer is only yourself. No one else is holding you to that status quo.

No one else is telling you you must stay where you are if you don’t wanna be there, there are so many opportunities out there, and you just have to first believe that it is possible. Learn through coaches, through books, through masterminds, through expanding your frame of reference and then doing it yourself, you must take different actions to get different results. And of course, through all of these conversations, I wanted to be the expander in her frame of reference. Maybe she never met another online business owner, but I wanted to be the one showing her what is possible with her interests, how she can monetize her passions, and giving her hope that it is possible for her. It’s not some unattainable goal just for people who are millennials or Gen Zers. There is always a way, but you must believe in yourself first. And after leaving whales, it made me think. What do I currently think is impossible for me? What do I currently think is out of reach?

Where are my new limiting beliefs and how do I tackle those? Because we all have them. We all have this upper limit, and as you reach new milestones, it is so important for you to reflect on what you’ve accomplished, but what you have still yet to work on. Find your expanders and recognize that at all times you are the only person holding yourself back. Whether you think it’s I can or I can’t.

Reflections on Family and Place

The last reflection that I have for all of you today, and I might do a whole episode on this because I’m really liking how this sounds, is that after five months of traveling with my new little family, with my beloved little boy, I have finally realized that home is wherever you’re all together. We have gone through so many countries, so many different Airbnbs, so many different apartments, homes, and I’ve never felt like I didn’t have a home. Everywhere that I’ve chose to place my family around the world, we’ve made it our home because we are together. We know the essentials we must travel with, but we also know the specific purpose why we are visiting.

Not only are we traveling, but we are fulfilling something that is deeply, deeply personal and valuable to us. Bonding with our families, showing love in the world. And although it doesn’t mean that we have one fixed base and we’re not settled, it doesn’t mean that. We don’t have a home. Home for us is truly wherever we are together, we have lived a nomadic lifestyle for years and years and years, and that is what feels like home for us. You can create your own definitions of how to live your life and you can do what truly makes you happy. We are in Cornwall, England for a few more weeks. We finally got Leven’s British passport in the mail, so we will be booking flights back to Brazil very soon.

I hope this episode gave you the inspiration and the little push you need to take your life to the next. Level. If you have any questions, my DMs on Instagram are always open, and I will see you all in the next episode. Have an amazing week, my loves.
If you found this episode helpful and listened in, don’t forget to also share it with a friend and leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Pin On Pinterest

Read Next

Our Next Digital Nomad Adventure: Northern Spain!

Best Bali Coworking Spaces for Digital Nomads

20 Lessons Learned In My 20s

Behind the Scenes of a Slowmad: Slow Travel and Business Growth

Sharing My Controversial Pregnancy, Birth, and Travel Plans!

Navigating Marriage, Business, and Full-Time Travel as a Digital Nomad

My Birth Story in Rio de Janeiro

How to Give Birth in Brazil as a Foreigner: Everything You Need to Know 

10 Lessons from 10 Weeks of Motherhood

Traveling With A Baby! Digital Nomad Life as a Family

My 3-Month Maternity Leave Recap and Insights

Wondering If Motherhood Is For You? Here’s What Helped Me Decide