In this episode: how you can enjoy your next trip abroad and be obsessed with it, instead of obsessing over it.

Teresa gives a quick check-in from her 3-week vacation in Greece. She shares her top three tips that she has learned throughout her travels, from mentally preparing for your trip and how to not allow inconveniences or stressful situations to ruin your time; packing not for perception, but more for how you want to feel; and how to navigate dealing with body-image comparisons and recognizing your own beauty.

This episode is for anyone about to go on an exciting trip, and how to make the most of their time there.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Prioritize mentally preparing for your trip. Ask yourself: What do you want to feel like and how can you prepare for every aspect of the trip, not just the “picture-perfect” parts?
• When you’re traveling, there are so many things that are not going to go perfectly - and that’s ok. It’s just part of the experience and how you choose to handle it.
• Dress how you want to feel more than how you want to be perceived - focus on what makes you feel comfortable and confident, so that you can enjoy your time on vacation.
• In a world where “skinny-talk” has transitioned to the forefront in media, it’s important to note that you can love your body and want to live a healthy lifestyle, and also feel the pressure to fit a certain standard.
• Your first thought is not who you are - It's your conditioning. Your second thought, and how you engage with it, is who you truly are.

If you are only posting content for yourself and to be perceived, do not make it a full-time job. Make enjoying yourself the full-time job and capture the memories. - Teresa Stastny

Connect with Teresa

• Join the Becoming Obsessed Playground, the weekly email for curiosity-led women building a life they love.
• Instagram: @becomingobsessedpod and @teresaajean
• Leave a review on Apple or Spotify Podcasts. Reviews are the biggest thank-you, and reviews help ambitious women find the show.
• Website: teresaajean.com

Topics: self-love, mental preparation for travel, body positivity, travel mindset, travel tips for women, overcoming comparison, managing expectations while traveling, embracing imperfections, decision fatigue while traveling, enjoying the moment on vacation, finding joy in travel experiences, navigating new environments, dressing for comfort while traveling, managing social media pressure, traveling without comparison, living a life you love

Mentioned in this episode:

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Your first thought is not who you are.

It's your conditioning.

It is your upbringing.

It is the voices and the culture.

Your second thought, that is who you are.

And so if you have the first thought, oh, I wish I looked like her, that's not who you are.

That does not say anything about who you are.

Truly, it's your second thought that counts.

It's when you come in and you say, yeah, she does look great, but I love myself as well.

And you keep moving that first thought, it's going to happen and it is okay.

It is how you react to it, engage with it, decide to believe it, or to choose something different.

That is truly who you are.

Welcome to Becoming Obsessed where curiosity leads you to a life you love.

I'm Teresa Stasney, and after over a decade of traveling the world, working with small business owners and creating a couple businesses of my own, I know a thing or two about playing by your own rules.

It's not always easy and it's often messy.

It can be hard, especially.

Especially if you're doing it alone.

I've seen way too many incredible women shoot for the stars only to burn out along the way.

Or worse, live on default and never chase their dreams.

We're done with all of that.

Together we're gonna challenge what keeps us stuck and figure out what it takes to live a life we truly love.

Hello.

Hello.

From Thessaloniki, Greece.

I got here today.

We drove two and a half hours around Mount Olympus from Meteora to get here.

We're here for a couple days before flying to Crete for our last island and then back to Athens for a few days before we head back to the United States.

And we're officially halfway through our trip.

We've been here for 10 days and we have about 10 days left, so.

So from the middle of my European summer to your next vacation, your next trip abroad, your dream trip, let me de influence you so that you can enjoy your next trip abroad to the fullest and you can actually live out your dream vacation and be obsessed with it.

Instead of obsessed, obsessing over it, which I've talked about before, is kind of what I did last year when I went to Italy for a month.

So I am going to talk about three things that I changed this year or that I've learned already in these 10 days that I want to remember and take with me as I continue to travel.

If you're new to becoming obsessed, I'm Teresa Stasney.

I have been traveling for over a decade.

I've been in Europe non consecutively for over a year and a half.

I've spent six months in central South America, and I love a long trip.

Give me three to six months.

That is my happy place.

Because I'm often working while I travel, I don't really, I'll admit, take time off to go on a trip.

Usually I'm able to work at least a couple days a week, a few hours, keep things in motion.

And I've always preferred to just feel like I'm living in a place instead of going for just a week and kind of shutting down life at home and seeing everything I can as fast as I can.

So what have I been up to this last 10 days in Greece?

This is my second time in Greece and I've already gone to two places that I went before and absolutely loved.

It is no secret that Athens is one of my favorite cities in the entire world that I've ever been to.

I always joke that if I had to go move somewhere, I would choose Athens.

I'll admit it's based on pretty limited experience, but I've spent over five, six weeks in Athens and I love it.

So, of course, this time I had to start and stop in Athens.

It's one of the main airports.

It makes it pretty easy.

But this time, instead of flying or ferrying to one of the popular islands, my partner and I actually rented a car from Athens, drove four and a half hours to the only island you can actually drive to, spent the week there going to the most incredible beaches I have maybe ever been to, and then took another road trip up into the mountains to Meteora to see the six suspended monasteries that are built on these rock formations.

It is super cool.

It was a very quick two night, one full day, two half days time in the mountains, and we actually spent half of the full day just relaxing.

The funny thing about this trip, I. I don't know if I've experienced this before, but every single day of this trip has felt like two days.

We're waking up, we're seeing the sunrise, we're doing things, maybe taking a break and then going back out and then having a late dinner and seeing the sunset.

Not every day have we caught the sunset and the sunrise, but probably at least half of the days we have.

Which means it feels like two days in one.

It has been insane, it has been beautiful, it has been so incredible.

But that is also why when we got to the mountains, when we got to Meteora, we did the loop, we saw the sights, and then we decided to take the day off, lay in bed and basically just watch Greek tv.

And then this morning it already feels like it was yesterday.

This is the crazy part.

It is.

Oh my gosh, it is 7pm I probably would have told you that it's 4pm it is 7pm in Thessaloniki.

It has already felt like two full days.

It has been insane.

It already feels like we got here yesterday even though we only checked into the apartment like three hours ago.

This leads me to the first thing that I want to de influence for us, that I want to just add a little bit more color and conversation around when it comes to any trip, any trip abroad, but especially an extended trip or a very fast paced trip or going to a new country that you've never been to before.

Any new city that you've never been to before.

And it is this just like you prepare your outfits and maybe working out and your physical capabilities.

I also want you to mentally prepare for your trip.

And this doesn't mean you have to do soul searching of what do I want to do?

But I do want you to really question what do you want to feel like?

Because if you're anything like me, you see all the photos on Instagram and you're so excited to have this experience that you have in your mind.

But like we always joke, my partner and I, so many of the images you see are actually drone shots and you never get that view yourself unless you go up in an airplane or a helicopter or you send your own drone up.

So many of the things we see on Instagram about a specific place we're going to travel are not the perception or the view that you will have.

This is why I think it's important to mentally prepare for a trip before you go because your expectations could set you up for failure.

You could spend the whole trip comparing it to what you saw online, to how you want it to feel, to the fact that it doesn't look the same without a filter unless you have your sunglasses on.

All of my sunglasses are like rose colored lenses, which makes it really fun.

But it doesn't always look like sunset or sunrise.

And in cities like Athens and Thessaloniki, it honestly looks a little bit sketch.

Sometimes they don't really clean up the graffiti.

It's one of my favorite parts of the cities so far in Greece that I've been to is they're not pretentious and they do care, but they almost don't care about the like surface level things.

So they'll have really cool design but then they'll just leave the graffiti up.

And so you'll be in an area where there's a lot of local shops and it's like, very interesting, but it might look sketchy.

And so if you're not prepared for every side of the trip, not just the picture perfect Instagram side, your expectations might lead you astray.

But the other reason I want you to mentally prepare for your trip is there is going to be so much going on.

My little ADHD brain can only handle so much at once.

And I've actually found that I make my best decisions if I can just walk away.

I did this on the islands.

I saw a dress.

I was like, I really like this.

I left the shop, I went and stood around the block, we walked in some other shops and then I said, okay, I actually do want that dress.

And I went back.

I'm not always good at making those decisions in the moment.

This also happened when we were driving in the mountains and we went by a little Mini Martin and I really needed a water and my partner asked if we should stop and I literally couldn't answer fast enough because I didn't want to stop.

But we also should have.

And so like a few blocks later, I was like, if we see another one, let's stop, let's get water.

We need some for the drive tomorrow.

And it's so easy to be frustrated with yourself in these moments, but instead, how do we kind of prepare and understand how we operate and give ourselves that time?

Because the truth is, when you're traveling, maybe it's not the same on a cruise or all inclusive resort.

I've never really done those, but the way that I travel, there's so many more decisions to make every single day.

You have to decide what to eat, you have to decide what path to take, you have to decide what you're going to do for the day.

You have to make a schedule and you don't have as much information naturally.

So you have to go find it, you have to look for it.

You're going to make mistakes.

I love this reel that's going around that's like, excuse me, that I always forget that part of trial and error is error.

And I love that because it's the same with traveling.

There's just so many ways to make a mistake, so many things that are not going to go perfectly today.

I was actually so proud of us because we were in Thessaloniki.

It's both of our first times here.

We have a rental car and our accommodation, like, there's no street parking.

We did like four or five loops.

We're like, okay, let's get a lay of the land, see if something will open up.

And nothing opened up, but there was a few parking garages.

Parking lot, parking garage, some other parking a few blocks away.

And this parking garage, we're like, okay, great, let's go there.

Let's try it.

We couldn't check into our accommodation for a few hours.

So we were like, this will be great.

We can park in this parking garage.

We come back and get our stuff in, like, four hours and then leave it here overnight.

We're talking to a guy who spoke pretty good English, honestly, luckily.

But it wasn't, like, a perfectly easy communication.

We couldn't tell exactly what was going on.

And then we, like, realized that he's gonna drive it into an elevator, like a car elevator, and they're gonna go park it somewhere, and we won't be able to access it.

And there's two cars that pull in behind us.

And so we're trying to figure this out.

And we start to get out and grab all our stuff and.

And as we're pulling out our luggage, we just were like, wait, we should just go find somewhere else to park or go do something else with the car.

Maybe drive, I don't know, to a beach, who knows?

Instead of parking it and then pulling all our luggage out and now having to basically just sit near a coffee shop for four hours with our luggage because we can't leave it in the car.

And it was just so much information to process at once.

And it's really easy to get flustered.

We were both a little flustered, but we figured it out.

We're like, you know what?

This is not going to work.

We put all our stuff back in the car.

We're like, sorry, guys.

Sorry, everyone.

We're leaving.

We pull around and leave the parking garage.

Great, easy, done.

But we had to be wrong in that moment.

We had to inconvenience people in that moment.

We had to kind of go through it and be flustered.

And I actually was really proud of the way we went through that and didn't let it ruin our mood.

I feel like in those moments, it's so easy.

If you haven't slept, you haven't ate, everything is new.

You have decision fatigue.

For those moments to really feel overwhelming and daunting.

And I say that from my own experience.

In that moment, I was like, oh, what do we do?

What do we do?

Like, you just don't have an answer until you walk through it.

And so I need you.

If you're like me, you're getting your steps, you're working out more.

So you can lift your luggage and do everything you need to do.

Carry your luggage over cobblestone streets, go up seven flights of stairs with your luggage.

Like, whatever it is that you're doing to prepare physically, I also want you to prepare mentally.

I want you to decide what it is that you want your trip to feel like.

Not because you're going to chase that feeling, but because while you are on location, you are going to say, this is how I feel.

This is how I feel.

I'm here.

I wanted to be relaxed.

I wanted to appreciate things.

I wanted to not be rushed or distracted.

Whatever it is, is you decide before you get there.

You don't just assume it's going to happen.

You decide before you get there.

You take account of how you're going to make it happen within yourself.

Not all the things you do, but how are you going to stay grounded?

How are you going to accept what comes your way?

And sometimes just that.

10 Seconds of listening to this podcast.

Okay, little more than 10 seconds.

And deciding for yourself, I'm not gonna get flustered.

And when I do get flustered, I'm not gonna judge it.

I'm gonna laugh it off and I'm gonna keep moving even when I'm tired and it's frustrating.

How do I want to carry that?

Do I wanna let that ruin my entire day?

Or am I gonna just keep moving?

Am I just gonna keep going and figure out the best I can in those moments?

And most importantly, accept that I'm gonna make mistakes, that there is going to be air involved.

And you know what?

Thank God we did not park in that parking garage.

We found a different place, different parking garage.

That was South Park.

We left all our stuff in the car, walked around, went thrifting a little bit.

I did get a pair of earrings I'm very excited about.

And then we went back to the car, got our stuff, got checked into the accommodation, and it was all good.

And we found a better way, but there was some error involved and there was some trial.

And I think so often if I just talk about parking, it sounds so boring and frivolous and silly and like, okay, whatever.

But how many times have you actually gotten frustrated because you can't find parking, that you got flustered and you let it get you all worked up and overwhelmed?

And I think that's the key, is you're going to get overwhelmed and flustered and have decision fatigue and not really have it all together every moment of the day when you Travel.

And I just want you to accept that and say, okay, great, that's gonna happen.

It doesn't mean anything other than I'm having a new experience.

I can get flustered, but maybe not as hot headed and overwhelmed and maybe I don't let it linger as long because I know it's gonna happen.

I expect that things like that are going to happen.

Accept that things aren't gonna go perfect.

Understand and ask yourself how you wanna feel and how you're gonna make that happen.

And prepare mentally just like you would physically or just like you would with your packing list before you ever get on the plane.

And honestly, this is just good for life in general.

Number two, this is for my girlies and my overpackers and my overthinkers when it comes to outfits.

Unfortunately, last year in Italy, I let my outfits and my appearance take up way too much brain space while I was traveling.

And it's interesting because going to Italy I felt a lot more social media pressure around, looking the part around, not sticking out too much as American around, not doing things wrong or wearing the wrong thing.

I was very influenced.

And I actually realized that that all started because I was just looking for some inspo on Pinterest for my outfits.

But that led into this kind of spiral of spending so much time now like doom scrolling online shopping on Depop and Poshmark and Pinterest for inspiration, which I've talked about a lot.

I've talked about it on a few episodes and that really led into all of the don't order a cappuccino after 10am like here's what not to do.

Content.

And I think Italy, being this fashion capital of the world, carried a lot more of that weight of how I was going to be perceived than Greece does.

Greece, I've never felt that way.

I've never felt like I need to dress the part.

And it might be because like Athens, I always say it's a little bit like Brooklyn without the pretentiousness or without people moving there to become something.

That's always how I've taken it.

And so you get what to me feels like there are very like trendy outfits, but it just feels like people are themselves more.

And maybe that's because it's a little bit more grungy and I feel like I can fit in easier without trying as hard.

Anyways, this is something that last year when I went to Italy, I just spent so much time thinking about my outfits beforehand.

And then even while I was in Italy, I was way more aware of what I was wearing and how I might be perceived through the first half of the trip than I wanted to be.

And I found myself literally being in Italy.

And instead of enjoying all the beauty around me, which I was, I was also self conscious.

I was also wearing about what outfits to put together and all of these things that didn't matter.

I'm just gonna say it didn't matter.

Especially if I wasn't, like, getting content.

No one care.

No one cares.

No one's perceiving you.

And even if they are, okay, great.

I don't know how else to say other than it doesn't matter, except it does matter because it's taking your enjoyment away.

I'm a fashion girl.

I love throwing a fit.

I love a moment for a good outfit.

But I am also someone who wants to be comfortable and does not want to be out and about all day and having my attention pulled to what I'm wearing and being uncomfortable.

And so number two is outfits.

I do not want you to spend your vacation just thinking about how you look and what you're wearing.

You're going to have so many decisions, just like we talked about in the first point.

So many decisions to make every day.

Let your outfits be the easy one.

Let your outfits be the easy decision.

And here's my thing.

Maybe you are somebody who lives in a city where you do dress up all the time and you wear heels and you do makeup all the time.

If that is you, amazing.

Lean into those things if you want to, that you already do.

They're already part of your routine.

They're your go to outfits, your go to formulas, your go to shoes that you feel comfortable in.

For me, that is sneakers and mascara and, like, that's it.

I have a lot of cute sneakers.

Like, I don't do heels.

I don't really wear dresses that often.

And so I tried for this trip to just bring the clothes I actually wear in the summer anyways.

Bring the clothes that I would put on that are the first things I pull out of my closet at home.

And yes, I do have some outfits that I don't typically wear.

I have one dress that I actually spent, like, probably 12 hours tailoring just to bring it on this trip just so I'd have something to throw in that I knew would fit the way I wanted it to and was comfortable and checked all my boxes.

So when you're packing one, you need less than you think you need.

Trust me.

Like, pack and then take away, like, five items and wear what you are used to.

Wearing.

Yeah, maybe the fancier version.

Sure.

Of course we all like to look cute and feel cute.

But I'm telling you, when it is 100 degrees and you are walking around seeing the sights, you're actually not going to care as much or you're going to try and wear something that's super cute.

The dress with the heels that's slightly uncomfortable.

You spent all this money, all this planning to go to this dream destination, to go to a place that you want to go.

And then you spend half of your energy while you're there thinking about how uncomfortable you are, thinking about how your outfit isn't sitting right, thinking about how your shoes and your feet hurt.

That is what I really want to influence here.

Your experience of getting to actually see the sights and feel at ease and feel like you're having fun, feel the excitement and the adventure.

Whatever energy you're going for.

If you're going to the mountains, if you're going to the beach or you're going wherever, to the city.

Dress how you want to feel more than how you want to be perceived.

What's going to help you have a good time?

Because here's the thing, if you are not getting paid to post on social media, do not make what you wear and what you post a full time job.

Speaking to myself here, I'm not getting paid for posting a cute photo on social media.

I don't have all the product deals or anything like that where I need to get a perfect picture or I need to create the right kind of content.

So if you are only posting content for yourself and to be perceived, do not make it a full time job.

Make enjoying yourself the full time job and capture the memories.

Because can I just say, that is what most people are actually doing.

It just doesn't feel like it because there are people who are getting paid to post, which is amazing.

Hell yeah.

Good for them.

If that's you amazing, take these tips and see how you can work them in.

Bring your outfits and your extra bags and get your money.

But if you are not getting paid to post, don't treat it like a full time job.

Get your cute pics, do your thing.

I love to look cute, I love to take a cute pic.

But don't make that your entire experience and don't not experience your trip just because you're trying to get the content.

Which brings me to the third way that I am de influencing you and me.

Because this one I figured out while floating on a strawberry donut tube in the Mediterranean Sea in one of the most gorgeous beaches I have ever been to.

The water was so clear.

I literally was snorkeling with all the fishies.

And the cliffs behind the beach were so dramatic, so beautiful.

So I'm in my happy place.

I'm in one of the most beautiful places, the place I dream about going to.

Why does my mind want to betray me by focusing on how there are people on the beach that are thinner than I am?

I don't think it's any news to anybody who's been on social media or in the media at all lately.

That skinny talk is back.

I think during COVID there was a few years where we were very, very body positive.

And the last few years have felt very beauty standard forward again.

It has just felt like there's more pressure to be thin, to be skinny, to lose weight, to take Ozempic or GLP1s.

And I always have this conversation, hopefully kind of delicately, because I do think that there are multiple things at play.

So I have really, like, three parts to this.

First, two things can be true at once.

As I go into this conversation as you go on your trip, remember, multiple things can be true at once.

I can love my body, I can want to be healthier, and I can also feel the pressure to change my body to fit a certain standard.

And that can all be happening while I'm floating on a strawberry donut tube, snorkeling with the fishies in beautiful turquoise water with dramatic cliffs in the background.

And yet what I remember thinking is seeing this, like, beauty standard skinny model, very beautiful woman, walk on the beach, no belly pooch, and thinking about how she was thinner than I was, about how I do have a belly pooch.

And so here's what I did.

Somehow in the moment, I was having this thought that so many people here are so skinny, everyone here is so skinny.

And I just caught myself and I said, is that true?

And I shifted my focus from looking for evidence that everyone was smaller than I was to evidence that there are people on the beach with every single body type, that even in Europe, there's every single body type represented.

And I started actively looking for people who were all different sizes.

And I found that.

And it was actually the majority of people, there'd be, like, one person who really looks like that Instagram model that, you know, you kind of start comparing yourself to.

And then there was all of these other incredibly beautiful humans on the beach.

And so not only did I start to change what I looked for, I also consciously made the effort to compliment.

This is where I say it's kind of delicate because, as we said in part two, I don't want to spend my trip obsessed with how I'm perceived.

And I especially don't want to spend it judging other people for their physical appearance.

But at the same time, there is this real pressure that we feel.

Culture, I talk about this all the time.

Everyone is trying to sell us something.

It is real, and it is something that I experience, and it's something that I'm working through.

And so, again, multiple things can be true at once.

It is okay to feel that pressure and then decide that that is maybe not your voice that's speaking to you, that needs to change how you look.

And so, in this moment, like I said, I noticed somebody that made me wish my body looked different.

And so what I did instead was look for all of the other bodies on the beach.

Because what you look for, you will find.

If I mention a red car, where you're thinking about buying a red car, you start to notice red cars, and it feels like everyone is a red car.

And that same thing happens when you're traveling or when you're going about your normal life.

If you are so focused on thinking that everyone looks a certain way and that you don't and that you should.

And you might only notice people who look that way, but you might miss all the people who do look like you and are beautiful in their own way, just like you're beautiful in your own way.

I'm not a therapist or a dietitian or a doctor or trained in any scientific medical background at all.

And so I always get a little apprehensive or shy talking about weight or bodies or how people look, because there's so much noise about it that I never want to add to.

But I had never really heard somebody talk about it this way, which is why I want to share this trick.

If you're finding yourself looking at everybody else, wishing you did look like them, or thinking about how they look in a certain way that you don't, I really want you to try to look for other people who do look similar to you.

And then this is going to be the part that might be sticky for people or might actually make it worse for some people, which is why I'm a little, like, delicate in how I say this.

But I want you to look at other people and not compare yourself, but look at people who more closely resemble your body type and find the beauty in them.

And that's the part that might be sticky for people.

This is work that I have been doing my entire life.

I'm very blessed to have grown up in a household that was not nitpicky about bodies and appearances.

It was very loving.

And I never heard my mom say anything bad about her body.

And I, at a very early age, you guys know I love a cliche, I take em all to heart.

But from a very young age, I just understood that the media was trying to make us feel like we should look in a certain way or hate our bodies so they could sell us stuff.

And to some extent, I understood this.

And I decided from probably single digits that I wasn't gonna hate the way I looked, that I was gonna love myself.

And even saying that and even spending my entire life determined to love who I am and love the way I look.

I still look back at photos from my early 20s, from college, even four years ago when I was in Greece, and I see photos that at the time I thought I looked big.

And now I look and I'm like, oh my gosh, I was so much more fit then.

And so I'm not immune to any of this.

And that's why I talk about it, is because it's something that I do experience.

Even as somebody who has very actively tried to cultivate love for my body and focus so much more on what I'm capable of doing versus how I look.

There's this story that I love so freaking much, and it is in the Women who Run With Wolves book.

And the author talks about how her and another woman were doing a presentation or they were friends and they had similar experiences.

Their families were from different countries.

I think they were both living in the US and their families were both like, American, but they had different ancestry.

And both women had gone to visit home.

And the author talks about how when she went back to Mexico, back to a land that her ancestors were from, the women there in Mexico actually asked her why she wasn't more round.

They were worried about how thin she was.

And they said women are supposed to be round like the earth, so that they're grounded and strong and can carry was something along those lines.

And I love that because it's the same idea that we hear a lot about other countries or native tribes where the beauty standard is different and it actually is good to have more weight than to be too thin.

I think the other woman, like, was very tall and lengthy and had like a similar experience.

I don't remember for sure, but I just remember that moment of like, yes, we actually are all different.

And there's so much that goes into why our bodies carry weight or don't carry weight and where they carry weight.

And there is health concerns to take into account.

But it also isn't unhealthy to have a different type of body.

And like I said, very delicate conversation.

I don't have the perfect words to know how to talk about it, but this is what I want to leave you with.

As you head on a vacation, as you head on a trip, you don't have to change the way you look before you go.

You don't have to change anything about yourself before you go.

And if you are really struggling with this, please talk to somebody and change what you're looking for.

See if that helps.

Something that I've done is change my algorithm to, I'll be honest, unfollow people who kind of promote being skinny as an assessment aesthetic.

Not people who are naturally thin or working out and are fit.

Not that.

But people who really promote being thin as the goal and not in a way that I feel it's healthy for my mental health.

I'll say for me to watch, I'll unfollow.

If it's not adding to me loving myself, I will unfollow.

But I also follow people who are mid size are plus size, are fashion girlies throwing together amazing fits.

And their belly may have rolls, their back may have rolls, and they wear the outfit anyway and they love themselves.

And you know what?

I'm sure they have the same thoughts that I do.

That is okay, because here is the third part of this number three that we're de.

Influencing has three parts.

One, multiple things can be true at once.

Two, you will find what you look for number three.

And this is something that I said to my girls, Ashley and Emily the other day.

And I think one of them had actually never heard this before.

Your first thought is not who you are.

It's your conditioning.

It is your upbringing.

It is the voices and the culture.

Your second thought that is who you are.

And so if you have the first thought, oh, I wish I looked like her, that's not who you are.

That does not say anything about who you are.

Truly, it's your second thought that counts.

It's when you come in and you say, yeah, she does look great, but I love myself as well.

And you keep moving that first thought, it's going to happen and it is okay.

It is how you then react to it, engage with it, decide to believe it or to choose something different that is truly who you are.

And so part three, this whole idea of what you look for, you will find.

And if you are traveling or on Instagram before your trip and you're only looking at people wishing that you looked like them or wishing that you were different, that's what you're going to see, that's what you're going to feel.

You can choose to look different.

You can choose to change what you look at, what you look for.

And it all goes back to part one, which is you cannot just prepare your body and prepare your outfits in your packing list.

Prepare your mind for travel, because if you do not decide how you're going to feel and how you're going to think and how you're going to show up for your trip, you might find yourself to be the same way that I was a year ago in Italy.

Wasting energy, worried about how I look.

And again, I'm a fashion girl.

I want to throw a fit.

I want to look cute.

I want my hair done like I do care.

I take pride and I find it so fun.

But I'll be honest, I can find it fun and also find that I'm going overboard in dwelling and caring about it in a way that is having a negative impact on my travels, on my experience.

I hope these three things de influence you for your Euro Summer, whatever trip you're going on.

Let me know.

And let me know if these have helped you at all in planning for your trip and in having a better time while you're traveling, because you might as well enjoy yourself if you're paying that much money to go do something.

Send me a DM or a voice note.

I'd love to hear about your travels and follow along with your travels.

Find me on Instagram Ecoming Obsessed Pod.

All right, y', all, let's go get obsessed.

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All right, let's go get obsessed.