I paid the power bill this morning. First thing I did. Grown-up. Responsible. And still — the voice came.
“It’s more than you expected. Again. That’s another spanner in the works of financial freedom.”
Tomorrow, I’ve got two clients booked. I’ve got room for four. I’m travelling with Julie to a town two hours away so she can do some art therapy work. Part of me wants to enjoy the space — maybe explore a bit, just be a traveller for the day.
But no — the voice says: “Try harder. Stare at the empty calendar spots. Maybe they’ll fill if you obsess enough.”
The collapsible ladder I wanted for the caravan? That can wait. You paid the power bill. You’re two clients short. So you’re behind. Keep being sensible. Keep Hemingway sedated.
But something in me — the part I trust more these days — spoke back.
Not with a plan. Not with hope. Just a quiet rebellion: “Even if it’s true… I still get to choose what matters.”
So I wrote this. Not because I’ve solved anything. Not because I’ve got some spiritual wisdom to pass on.
But because I’m tired of acting like survival is a virtue, and deferring freedom in the name of being ‘responsible.’
This isn’t a lesson. It’s just a letter. From the place between fear and freedom. From a man who’s learning that enough might just be a decision.
That question hit me this morning like a warm slap of truth.
So much of my life has been shaped by this quiet pressure to be the good one, the responsible one, the one who doesn’t let anyone down — not even the voice in my head.
But what if those expectations aren’t mine? What if I could set them down — even for a moment — and choose differently?
Not recklessly. Not selfishly. But freely.
Today, I’m not trying to be the best version of myself. I’m just trying to be a version of myself that feels a little more alive.
What about you?
👇 What would you choose if you weren’t trying to be good, right, or responsible?
Hi there, Mark here from Go Travel Mindfully. Today is the first of a range of videos that I want to put up to give you an understanding of my life and how I’ve been able to rewrite my story from trauma to freedom.
And the reason that I want to make these videos is as a counsellor for over 20 years, a therapist, mental health social worker, and the skills and the knowledge that I’ve acquired and how supporting over 7,000 clients during that time, I’ve seen the changes that can happen when we rewrite our story.
My story began obviously when I was born and unfortunately or fortunately, as it turns out later in life, I was born into a fairly abusive family. And the result of that was very low self-esteem and a sense of low self-worth. I didn’t value myself very much. In fact, you could call my story the failure story. And I went through the first period of my life experiencing that. Things never seemed to go my way. I didn’t like who I was. I didn’t have very many friends. In fact, I don’t have very many memories at all before the age of 12 years of age.
But I don’t want to make this a tale of feeling sorry for me. It was more that as I journeyed through life, I didn’t realise at first that that was my dominant story, the failure story. It was just totally who I was. But I did discover later in life that led to me going to university and getting a degree, psychology and social work degree, where I could help and support others.
And through that learning journey myself, I came across acceptance and commitment training, as I call it, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, where I started to understand that that dominant story that had led my life, the failure story, and had played out in so many ways throughout my life to reinforce that message, was not totally who I was, even though I had believed that that was who I was, and that was going to be my life.
But I realised it was just a story. And through the skills and the techniques and the knowledge that I have learnt over the years, I have been able to manage and tame that story such that it still plays out, as do so many foundational stories in our life from those early ages, or maybe through other forms of trauma or stress that we’ve experienced. They can shape how we view and see the world and what our beliefs are. But when I realised the failure story was just a story that I could learn to manage, it has presented for me many options in life that I want to be able to share with you, because it really is a liberating experience.
I now live in a world where my mind really is very free. I am free of the old rules that used to bind me and bind so many of us in Western society. How we should be, what we should be attaining, what success looks like. All of these rules that can keep us very limited in our view on life and what we can achieve. I’ve been able to break free of that and rewrite the story, so to speak, to one of freedom.
And that freedom for myself and my wife Julie now means living a life, a much slower life. We have freed ourselves of material possessions. We don’t own a house or very few material possessions at all. And it’s very liberating. And yet I come across so many people our age, we’re in our 60s now, that would be very fearful of living that life.
But through understanding my own failure story and learning to manage that, especially when it starts to creep up, as it will in life, because that seems to be what life is about. It’s not all joy and skittles, I guess. I don’t know whether I just invented that phrase, but there you go. It’s not always about happiness. It is about learning from the suffering that we experience in life.
And I have certainly been able to do that to a point now where Julie and I really are very liberated and free. And so I’m hoping that throughout the series of videos that I will present, if it resonates with you, you will come along for the journey as well, particularly if you too are wanting to experience a different life for yourself.
Maybe you’re feeling trapped. Maybe you’ve got to that point in life where you’re saying, surely there must be more. I think I can help you discover what that more looks like as we learn to rewrite our stories.
So if this is resonating with you today, please feel free to come along for the journey. Like and subscribe this video and I will put up regular videos to tell you of my journey and what that transformation actually looks like and how you can implement it into your life to start to achieve more of the life that you truly deserve.
So thanks for watching and I hope to see you for the next video.
Hi, Mark here from Go Travel Mindfully. Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you found it entertaining and you got some information out of it that can help you discover and enjoy the life that you truly deserve.
While you’re here at my website, you can download your very own free 80-page copy of my ebook, Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life. It’s full of very useful, evidence-based, proven information to help you better let go of worry, fear, anxieties that may be getting in the way of you enjoying the life that you truly deserve, including becoming a full-time traveler.
So if you would like your own copy, download it now!
Are you caught in the crank and crash cycle while traveling — pushing too hard and then burning out? 😩 In this short but powerful video, I explore how mindful travelers can adopt a new rhythm: pulse and pause instead of overdo and collapse.
You’ll learn: ✔ Why pushing through fatigue kills the joy of travel ✔ What it means to “calibrate to the middle” ✔ A simple, mindful technique to check in with your body and energy each day ✔ How slow, intentional travel leads to more presence, connection, and freedom 🌿
Whether you’re a full-time nomad or just planning a getaway, this video will help you travel with more wisdom and less weariness.
💬 Comment below — Have you experienced travel burnout? What helps you reset and return to center?
🔔 Subscribe for more videos about living mindfully, traveling light, and choosing freedom over fear.
Life really is absurd. Good things happen to bad people. Bad things happen to good people.
So much of modern life is built around this one idea that we’re supposed to perfect ourselves.
Eat right. Exercise. Lower your blood pressure. Manage your cholesterol. Meditate every day, but not too much. Get the right amount of sleep. Drink enough water. Avoid toxins. It’s like we’ve replaced the priest from yesteryear with the doctor. The old religious command to be good is now be healthy, be well, be responsible, be measured.
But you know what’s never included?
Be radical. Be passionate. Be free. Revolt.
Albert Camus, the Algerian philosopher, wrote The Myth of Sisyphus, where Sisyphus is a figure from Greek mythology who was punished by the gods to push a giant boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down every time he reached the top.
Albert Camus reimagined him as a symbol of human life. Even though the task is endless and absurd, we can still find meaning and joy in the struggle itself, and he flips this whole idea on its head.
Camus says, life doesn’t owe you meaning. In fact, life doesn’t owe you anything. The world’s indifferent. There’s no grand plan, no promise that if you do it right, you’ll be rewarded.
And yet, instead of despair, he calls us to live with passion, revolt, and freedom. Not just live longer, live more. But the culture we live in, it’s obsessed with playing it safe. And it says, don’t drink too much. Don’t eat too much. Avoid risk. Avoid excess. Avoid chaos. Be a good patient. Be a good citizen. Be a good body. Be a good employee. But where’s the invitation to be wild, burning, imperfect human being?
Here’s what I want to ask you today. What rules are you following, just because you think you’re supposed to, or maybe you’ve been conditioned to? How much of your energy goes in trying to be good instead of free? If you knew that you were going to die in a year, what rules would you finally stop following?
Because as Camus puts it, we’re all Sisyphus.
We’re all pushing that boulder up the hill every day. The world doesn’t always make sense. Rarely it does. It doesn’t always reward your effort. But still, you push. You choose your rock. You show up. And that choice, that defiance, that’s where the meaning is born.
That is where real mindfulness is. It’s not another item on your to-do list. It’s not another way to optimize. It’s a way of saying, I’m here. I’m alive. This moment doesn’t have to make sense for me to love it. You don’t have to optimize your body to justify your existence. You don’t owe the world a perfect life. You don’t need to follow every health should to be worthy. You’re more than a machine to be maintained. You’re a wild, absurd, beautiful flame.
And the only thing you owe is to burn while you’re here. Let me ask you something.
What’s your boulder?
Because every day, we’re all pushing something uphill. Maybe for you, it’s the mortgage. The endless cycle of bills, repayments, interest rates, chasing that promise of security. Maybe it’s being the good employee, giving the best years of your life to a company that would replace you in a week.
Or maybe it’s waking up every day with that quiet ache, that whisper inside. I want to be free, but I don’t know what that looks like anymore. But here’s the thing no one tells you.
You’re allowed to choose your rock. Nobody ever said you have to carry the mortgage just because they told you that’s what security looks like. Nobody ever said you have to climb the career ladder just because that’s what success is supposed to be. You don’t have to stay small, tired, trapped just because someone handed you a map that said this was the right way.
What if the life you’re pushing for isn’t even the life you truly want?
And I want to ask you something deeper. How would this shape your desire for long term travel?
If you stop pushing someone else’s rock, what new path would open up for you?
What fears would open up?
What beliefs would you need to let go of to make space for the life you actually want?
And what fears would you be willing to bring with you, not waiting to overcome them first, but allowing them to ride beside you while you go anyway? Because here’s the truth.
You don’t have to wait until you feel fearless.
You don’t have to wait until it’s safe or approved or guaranteed or you have the answer. You can let the fear ride shotgun. You can let the uncertainty come along for the ride, but you don’t have to let them drive.
And you know Camus said something that stayed with me.
He said the only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
What if your choice to pursue a freer life, to downsize, to leave the rat race, to travel more simply, more mindfully, wasn’t selfish or reckless, but an act of rebellion, a quiet, courageous rebellion against a world that wants you compliant, small, afraid, obedient.
A rebellion that says, I don’t owe you my conformity. I don’t owe you a life spent paying bills until I die.
I choose freedom.
So let me ask you again, what rock would you put down? What rules would you stop following?
What fears would you let Swalk beside you while you keep moving forward?
Because maybe the freedom you’re longing for isn’t waiting at the top of a hill. Maybe it’s waiting the moment you stop pushing someone else’s boulder and start walking your own path.
You don’t owe the world a perfect, optimised, well-behaved life. You don’t have to keep pushing just because you were told to. You’re allowed to choose differently. You’re allowed to dream differently. You’re allowed to live wildly, imperfectly, rebelliously, because you’re more than a machine to be maintained. You’re more than a cog in the system.
This mindfulness exercise is to help you get to sleep.
Sometimes we can have some difficulty in getting off to sleep. So hopefully an exercise such as this will be of benefit in helping you to fall asleep.
So with this, I’m assuming that you’re already lying in bed and listening to this mindfulness exercise while you’re lying in bed.
So with that, I’d like to start by asking you to become aware of your breathing while you’re lying in bed.
We’re calling upon that side of us that can become aware, that can notice, that can observe, and we’re bringing our attention to our breathing.
With this, you don’t have to do any particular type of breathing. I just simply want you to notice, to become aware of your breathing.
And if the first thing that you do notice is that perhaps you’ve got some shallow breathing or you’re feeling a bit tense, perhaps just do a scan of your body.
And while you’re scanning your body, just become aware of any areas that may be feeling tense and see if you can relax those.
It can include your jaw. You may be noticing that you’re clenching your jaw. Your teeth are rubbing together.
It may be noticing some tension in your back, your upper back, or maybe your lower back. Maybe you’re clenching your fists.
Just scan your body and see if you can notice anything in particular that may be feeling tense right now and focus on just relaxing those areas.
And with your breathing, if you’re having difficulty breathing at the moment, perhaps just take in one or two deep breaths. Let them out.
A deep breath in… and a deep breath out.
And one more: a deep breath in… and a deep breath out.
And with that, just let your body resume its normal rhythm of breathing.
And with that part of you that can notice, that can become aware, simply become aware of that breathing pattern—the breath going in and the breath going out.
Just let your body take care of it all by itself.
So you’re lying in bed. You’re comfortable. Your body is as relaxed as it can be. And your attention at the moment is on your breathing.
See if you can notice and follow the path of air as it enters your nose or your mouth, travels down the back of your throat, down your windpipe, and enters your lungs.
And with that, notice your chest expanding. It gets to a certain point where that stops, and then your body starts to breathe out. It takes care of this all by itself.
And with that, see if you can notice the path of air as it leaves your lungs, travels back up your windpipe, and then back out through your nose or your mouth.
See if you can follow that process—that path of air as it enters your body, fills up your lungs, then leaves your body out through your nose or your mouth.
See if you can focus on that for three breaths: the breath going in and the breath going out.
And while you’re doing this, your mind will be chattering away. You’ll have all sorts of thoughts—everything from perhaps noticing some tension in your body to feeling a bit strange or odd doing an exercise like this.
Or perhaps suddenly a thought popped into your head about something that you have to do tomorrow. Or you thought about something that you did today, and it’s just popped back in your mind.
Just let those thoughts come and go. Our minds are always chattering away. What we’re doing here is just observing that.
So if you do get distracted by a thought, simply notice what that thought was, and then let it go.
Let it go like a cloud passing overhead in the sky.
Often we can look up and see clouds moving across the sky—different shapes, different colours, different sizes.
And imagine they are our thoughts. Sometimes our thoughts can be so thick that we can’t even see the blue sky underneath. That’s how it can be sometimes when we’ve got too many thoughts happening.
Other times, they can be little whispery clouds just floating overhead.
See if you can just notice your thoughts like you notice clouds in the sky. Just notice them and let them float on by.
And then bring your attention back, in this case, to your breathing—the breath going in and the breath going out.
Try that for a few more breaths.
Again and again, your mind will trick you with one of its thoughts. It will try to distract you.
If that happens, simply notice what the thought was: “I notice that I’m having a thought about such and such.”
And then see if you can let it go like a cloud floating above in the sky.
Then bring your attention back to your breathing.
Always use the breathing as your anchor point.
If ever you get distracted or confused or you’re not sure what you should be doing, just gently bring your attention back to your breathing.
And now, that part of you that can notice, that can become aware, that can observe—it’s sort of like the curious scientist within us—I’d like you now to bring your attention to your body lying in the bed.
Just notice your body lying in the bed.
Notice what position you’re in.
Just notice anything you can about your body lying in the bed.
Just notice what your feet and your legs are doing, how they are positioned.
See if you can feel the mattress underneath your body.
If you have a sheet or a doona covering you, see if you can feel the weight or the pressure of that sheet or that doona.
Notice how your arms and your hands are positioned.
Just notice anything you can about your arms and your hands.
What are your fingers doing?
Is your right arm positioned differently to your left?
Just simply observe.
And again, if you get distracted by a thought or a story pops into your head, just notice what it was. Let it go, and gently bring your attention back to noticing your body lying in your bed.
If you have a pillow underneath your head, just notice the pillow under your head.
Feel the back of your head or whichever side of your head is resting against the pillow. Feel it resting against the pillow.
And with your body, just notice any sensations you may have.
There may be some tense areas around your neck or your shoulder.
If you can, just identify those, notice them. If need be, just concentrate on relaxing that area.
Just scan your body and notice any other sensations that you notice.
And again, bringing your attention back to your breathing—the breath going in and the breath going out.
Always using the breath as your anchor point.
The breath going in and the breath going out.
Notice those thoughts. Let them come and go.
There may be future thoughts about which you have no control at the moment. See if you can let them go.
There may be thoughts from the past. Again, the past has been and gone. See if you can let those go.
Let any feelings or sensations go.
Any thoughts or feelings associated with worry or concern or guilt or regret—just let them go and bring your attention back to this very moment.
Focusing on your breathing—the breath going in and the breath going out.
(YouTube video accessed via clicking the image below)
Nobody talks about this part of travel, managing the emotional ups and downs. Long-term travel isn’t just about the places you visit, it’s about who you become along the way. As you journey across borders, you’ll stumble into breathtaking landscapes, forge unforgettable connections, and awaken a sense of freedom you may have never known. But alongside these gifts come moments of loneliness, uncertainty, overwhelm, and self-doubt. This is the honest terrain of the traveller’s path, both the outer adventure and the inner journey.
You might find yourself in a tiny cafe, staring out at a bustling street, and suddenly feel the sting of homesickness. You may wake up one morning in a dreamy location and wonder, why do I feel flat or restless here? You might wrestle with questions like, am I wasting time? What am I really searching for? Flights get delayed, plans fall apart, health wobbles, and sometimes the mind spins with overthinking in the quiet of a strange room.
This is where mindful travel truly begins, not in escaping discomfort, but in learning to meet it with awareness and kindness.
When you subscribe to this YouTube channel, my channel, Go Travel Mindfully, and also my website, GoTravelMindfully.com, you will learn some really valuable ways to be able to manage everything that happens in life along your journey into long-term travel. Here’s just a few.
Acceptance and commitment training. Now this helps you notice the thoughts and emotions that arise without getting entangled in them. Thoughts and emotions, particularly emotions, are beautiful signposts as to what is happening to us, even unwanted emotions. They’re not things to get rid of or to fix. They’re things to become aware of, to notice, and then to understand, what are they telling me right now? When loneliness, worry, or frustration shows up, you can name it, make space for it, and gently return your focus to what matters, whether that’s a walk through a new city, a meaningful conversation, or simply watching the sunset. You can still do all of those things while experiencing some element of uncomfortability. And I can help you manage, teach you how to manage all of those emotions and thoughts that you experience along the journey.
Mindfulness practice teaches you to ground yourself in the present moment. When the mind races or anxiety builds, say, in a crowded train station, or a bumpy tuk-tuk ride, or anything that’s going to trigger those unwanted feelings within you, which can be unique to all of us, you can anchor yourself with your breath, notice the sensations in your body, or take in the sounds and colours around you. You can do simple things like wriggle your toes. Yes, wriggle your toes. If you do that right now, you’ll notice how your attention is brought to the fact that you are wriggling your toes. And that is something that you are doing in the present moment. So that is something that you can do anywhere, at any time. This calms the nervous system and brings you back to here.
Trauma-informed care and polyvagal understanding. Wow, that’s a mouthful. But stress or trauma-informed care, which really is ongoing stress that’s been around for a long while, or it can in fact be things that have happened in your life that, wow, have been traumatic, and maybe in the past has held you back from doing the things that you really want to do, like exploring the world. When we can take on board trauma-informed care and then polyvagal understanding, that’s what is actually happening to the body through the autonomic nervous system. I know I’m introducing possibly new concepts here, but when we can understand the way our body reacts to stress and anxiety and fear and worry, we start to realise these are normal human reactions to life events. They aren’t following a deficit model where there’s something wrong with me. They are telling you something that needs your attention right here, right now. Maybe some changes to the agenda or the schedule. Or maybe just a better way, instead of controlling what is happening, but managing what is happening, based on our own personal history and life, when we get triggered.
So, this will remind you that your nervous system is adjusting to constant change. Feeling overwhelmed or shut down isn’t a personal failure, it’s biology. I help travellers learn soothing tools like gentle movement, self-talk, and sensory grounding to re-regulate when they hit emotional turbulence. You’d be surprised how massaging your earlobes will help calm the body. Sounds crazy, but there’s many methods like that that can help us focus a bit more on the present moment and in the process calm the body. It’s telling the body that right here, right now, we are okay.
A dash of absurdist and existential wisdom. Absurdism. I love absurdism. The world really is an absurd place. I hope it doesn’t sound too negative. It’s not meant to be negative at all. It’s about awareness and understanding and acceptance. The world is an absurd place. Basically, good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. And really, the world couldn’t give two hoots about you. If we respect and understand our environment, it will then look after us because we are working in its domain. I hope that makes a little bit of sense. But if we can realise that the world is an unpredictable place, then we can help manage that unpredictability with a sense of greater confidence, more presence here in the present moment, and more joy. Go argue with the lamppost. Do something crazy. Really maximise your time in the present moment. The only time that you really have.
Feeling lost or emotionally off track is not a sign you’re doing life wrong. It’s part of the richness of being human in a shifting world. In the end, long-term travel isn’t just about kicking off bucket list destinations. If you want to do it long-term, it’s so important to really know who you are. It’s about becoming more intimate with yourself, with life, and with the reality that joy and discomfort often walk hand in hand. My role is to help you travel not just across borders, but into deeper connection with yourself, so you can meet every step, every high and low, with greater freedom, kindness, and presence.
Why not come along for the ride? You can start right now by liking this video, subscribing to my channel, and following along as I help you navigate long-term travel with greater joy and presence.
Welcome to Mind Your Way, your weekly invitation to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with what matters most.
In this first episode, The Art of Arriving, we explore what it means to be truly present when you travel — not just reaching a destination, but arriving fully in body, mind, and heart.
Enjoy a soothing 30-minute journey of mindful reflection, calming music, and a guided meditation you can practice anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or simply seeking more presence in daily life, this episode offers a gentle reminder: ✨ Slow down ✨ Soften ✨ Arrive fully
🎧 Watch the episode by clicking the image above and share your reflections in the comments!
Mind Your Way — Episode 1 Script (30 Minutes)
Title: The Art of Arriving — How to Be Present in a New Place
00:00–05:00 → Intro + First Talk
Welcome to Mind Your Way — your weekly space to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with what matters most. I’m [Your Name], and today we’re exploring something simple, yet often overlooked on the road: the art of arriving.
Most of us are great at getting somewhere, but not so great at arriving — truly landing in body, mind, and heart. We race through airports, check into hotels, plan the next day — but how often do we pause to notice where we are?
Today, I invite you to explore this practice: slowing down enough to really meet the moment when you arrive in a new place.
First Reflection: – What do you notice when you arrive somewhere new? – Can you tune into the colors, sounds, smells? – What happens when you pause and take it all in, before you rush into the next thing?
As we move into our first music break, I invite you to close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and allow yourself to soften — wherever you are.
05:00–10:00 → First Music Break
Let the music hold you. Notice what arises as you simply listen and breathe. You might imagine arriving at a beautiful place — a quiet beach, a sunlit street, or a peaceful forest path. Let yourself fully arrive, right here, right now.
10:00–15:00 → Second Talk
Welcome back. As you settle in, let’s go deeper into the art of arriving.
Often, the moment we land somewhere new, our minds go into planning mode — Where do I go next? What should I do? What’s on my list? But mindfulness invites us to set that list down, just for a moment, and take a breath.
Reflection: – Can you let go of needing to figure it all out? – Can you simply say to yourself: “I’m here. That’s enough for now”?
You can also tune into your body: notice if your shoulders are tense, your jaw tight. See if you can soften. Feel your feet on the ground. These little moments are the heartbeat of mindful travel.
Before we return to music, I invite you to recall a time when you felt truly present while traveling — maybe watching a sunset, wandering a local market, or simply sipping a coffee in a quiet corner. Remember how that felt in your body.
15:00–20:00 → Second Music Break
Allow the music to take you back to that memory — or simply stay with the gentle rhythm of your breath. There’s nowhere you need to go right now. Just arrive, again and again, in this moment.
20:00–25:00 → Third Talk + Mini Guided Meditation
As we come back together, let’s close with a short guided meditation.
Wherever you are, pause for a moment. Take a long, slow breath in… and gently exhale.
Feel your feet on the ground. Notice the support beneath you. Take another breath — listen to the sounds around you, near or far. And a third breath — sense the feeling of being right here, right now.
If it helps, quietly say to yourself: “I am here. I’ve arrived.” Notice what softens inside you when you allow yourself to truly land.
Journal Prompt (optional reflection): What does arriving mean to me — beyond just reaching a place? How can I arrive more fully in my own life, wherever I am?
25:00–30:00 → Final Music + Closing Wrap-Up
As the music plays, you’re invited to rest, reflect, or simply breathe. There’s no right way to do this — just allow yourself to be.
Thank you for joining me today on Mind Your Way. If you enjoyed this episode, feel free to share it with someone who could use a little calm — and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss our next mindful moment together.
Until next time — may you walk gently, with a calm heart and an open mind.
