Are you letting the haters hold you back from fulfilling your travel dreams?

I’ve had to deal with a lot of “noise” from people in my life who have something to say about my travel lifestyle.

There are those who are convinced that my finances are a mess, or that I have a sugar daddy because I manage to travel at least 7 to 10 times a year.

There are those who ridicule me because I am comfortable with travelling alone and seeing the world on my own terms.

There are those who tell me that my life abroad is an irreality, and that it’s is time for me to “come home” and “settle down” as is the “norm”.

Luckily, long ago I decided that I was going to “do me” and let the haters continue to sip on their haterade while I kept on having the time of my life seeing and sampling the world.

Haters will often put in their two cents out of fear and jealousy. They try to steer you off your path in an effort to keep you in the trenches with them. They want to stunt your growth because they themselves don’t have the means or wherewithal to flourish alongside you.

When I was in university and got word that I had been accepted to do a study abroad program in France the following year, two black acquaintances of mine immediately started to criticize my decision. They scoffed at my choice of country, citing that I should have applied to do a study abroad somewhere in Africa so I could better connect with my fellow brothers and sisters. One boasted that he would never learn a European language, and would rather go to the continent to learn Swahili, while the other tried to hint that by going to France, a supposed “white” country, I somehow wasn’t “down” enough.

I could have let loose on them, but realized that their comments were built on jealousy and fear. Instead, I firmly informed them that my choice of study abroad was MY business and not up for discussion, and that they could either support me or get gone. Their shock at my conviction and refusal to defend my choice quieted them real fast.

I kept it moving and stuck to my plan, and lived it up in France. I later found out that the guy who hated on me for going to study in “white” France turned around and spent the following summer in a very melanin-deficient town in Canada perfecting his French, while Mr. “I’m only interested in learning Swahili” started taking a Spanish class at our university. How ironic!

What are your travel dreams? Do you have naysayers/haters trying to stop you from making your travel dreams a reality? How do you cope?

Be sure to leave a comment or hit me up on Facebook if you have any questions or wanna chat about travel!