Freaking out over solo travel

When the “WTF are you doing” thoughts creep in…

Every time travel on my own there’s a moment when the plane is taking off and I freak out.

“What have you done this time?”

‘What am I getting myself into?”

“Why do I always do this?”

Blah blah and all my anxiety takes over.

When I travel I never know what to expect. I have a general idea of how I would like the trip to go, but then I leave it in the hands of the universe and allow myself to go with the flow.

Yes, it’s lonely at times. No, I don’t know anyone at most destinations. But in exchange, I discover a whole world would I never would have been privy to had I not left the comfortable walls of my house. I meet new people, make friends all over the world and discover that my journey is not only an outward journey, but inwards as well.

When I travel I learn new things about myself, about the world around me, and how so many things we are made to think are important really do not matter at all.

I learn how small I really am, how finite life is. I realize that in every spot in nature that I stand…I will be gone one day, but this will remain. The mountains, the river, the rocks… and someone else will be sitting on it, taking photos, talking about their adventures and enjoying their travels as well.

It’s experiences like these — finding yourself in magical places you never thought existed, unexpectedly meeting and connecting with new friends, or witnessing the hustle and bustle of life going on as usual around you—that make me so thankful for this life.

I discovered that the best way to find lost parts of myself is to remove myself from all the things I think make me who I am and who I think I should be. It’s a stripping away of all the outside accolades and fronts, to where it’s just me, nature, and strangers. It’s a fresh start in life, to be the person you I am without the stifling comfort of familiar surroundings. It allows me to show up for myself in exactly the way I want in that moment.

How do you show up for yourself in your life? Is there a place you want to go but don’t know how or where to start?

Plot twist: There is no right way to start. All you need to do is show up.

#sereneearthtravels #mysereneearth #worldwanderer

All good things are wild and free

When was the last time you felt truly wild and free…if ever?

"All good things are wild and free." -- Henry David Thoreau

When was the last time you felt truly free? For me I feel it every time I travel, when I explore a new destination, land in a country I’ve never been surrounded by people speaking a language I don’t understand. I relish the novelty, the excitement an the overwhelm.

But sometimes, I long for more. For true, raw, unbridled freedom. Freedom that’s hard to get in most cities, crowded spots and fast-paced lifestyles. It's being alone out in nature, in the wild, with nothing to keep me company except myself, and whatever nature is around.

Here is when I can come back to myself. Back to life, back to the beginning, naked, stripped away of everything I identity with, to remind myself of who I truly am, without all the other outside accolades and identities to hide behind. It’s here where I truly feel the freedom that life has to offer.

I hope everyone can experience the magic of nature, not just outside your door, but truly in the wild. With no one else around to tell you what to do, how to think or how to act.

We live our lives everyday under the rules of civilization and judgments of others. We're not even aware of how much this influences us until we completely step out of that bubble and see everything with a new lens.

When we connect with nature, we found parts of ourselves that we completely lost along life’s way. The parts that were shut down, the weirdness and oddities at our core that make us truly unique and connect us to the specific gifts we each have to share with the world.

I hope everyone can experience true #freedom in their lives at some point. It would change so much about who we are, how we react and show up in the world. When freedom comes from within, the rest will follow.

Cheers to forever being wild and free!

When taking the risk works out

This goes for anything, really. But especially when you start doing something out of the norm, many people will start to tell you why it can’t be done or why you shouldn’t do it.

The amount of times I was told I’d be bitten by tics, trapped by a bear, murdered by a serial killer, die in the desert, get COVID, my dog would die from a snake bite or get eaten by a bear, I’d be kidnapped, and all other sorts of things…wow if I listened to even half of these I wouldn’t have left the house!

So instead, I didn’t listen to anyone but myself, packed up my car and drove around the country living in it for six months, and came home perfectly safe. Franklin too.

Also, I did everything I said I was gonna do, and more. And I did a lot of it naked. And I’m still alive to tell the tale and share the photos.

If there’s something you want to do but you’re getting swayed by other people’s opinions of it, just stop listening to them. Or better yet, don’t talk about it until you’re well on your way and can’t be dissuaded by others. The outcome will be well worth it.

#mysereneearth #sereneearthtravels #nakedagain #nudainnature #solotravel #girlswhotravel #soloadventures #nakedinnature #nakedlifetruths #nudaisnormal #nuda #faerie #faerielife #nakedfaeries #faeriefolk #forestbathing #toyota4runner #toyota4runnersr5 #toyota4runnerlife

How nature became my greatest teacher

I escaped the madness of civilization to learn from nature, our greatest teacher

“Whenever the light of civilization falls upon you with a blighting power…go to the wilderness. The dull business routine, the fierce passions of the market place, the perils of envious cities become but a memory. The wilderness will take hold of you. It will give you good red blood. You will soon behold all with a peaceful soul.”
—George S. Evans, 1904

I posted this poem on my Facebook in 2015 and it came up as a memory today. Little did I know that six years later I would literally follow those words when I packed up my car and drove around the country for six months, staying as far away from civilization and as close to the wilderness as possible. George was right. That trip brought me peace, forever changed my view and understanding of the world and made me realize that as much as we may think we’re all different, as much divisiveness in the world, we are all connected. We are leaves from branches of the same tree, and at the end of the day, we all want the same thing. To be loved and seen.

I ran to the wilderness to escape civilization and find who I truly am. There I found not only myself, but the importance of nature as a great teacher.

Nature taught me the importance of connection. Connection taught me the importance of community, and community taught me the importance of civilization.

So back to civilization I went.

If you haven’t seen my Adventure Travel series on YouTube (40 episodes!!), click on the link in my bio and watch it! The Adventure series is now done but there are many more travel videos ahead!

What I wish I could tell my younger self

Looking back on why I spent so much time worrying about completely useless things

There are so many things I wish I could tell my younger self. The wounded child. Shy, introverted, scared, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually abused. The child bullied for her looks, a tall skinny white girl in the land of curvaceous Latinas in Central and South America. Who grew up thinking she was ugly, told she looked like a boy, so acted like a boy. Whose friends scrawled on the back of her shirt "Roses are red, violets are black, why is your chest as flat as your back?"

I wish I could tell my younger self it'll all be ok. Like, seriously. It’ll be ok. You’re learn that you’re worthy of love and respect. Also, you were never ugly, you just needed to believe you were beautiful, and fuck whatever others say, for real. Confidence will be your greatest accessory and no one will make you feel inferior without your consent. You will love every part of yourself, and from that love, you will learn to love others.

But seriously little Serena, you were never ugly! Just because people made you feel that way does not make it true. Don’t take everything and everyone so seriously. Also you’ll be naked a lot in your older life so chill out with the body issues. It’s all. In. Your. Head.

Who else wishes they could go back and tell themselves a simple message like this? I tell my inner child this all the time. When those seeds of doubt and comparison creep in, return to yourself, you source. It does not have to be hard. You don't need tapping and journaling and pure diets and meditation. Acknowledge the thoughts with compassion, then remind yourself feelings don't make it true. Just because someone said something or made you feel a certain way does not make it so. Fuck them all.

Then go take all the naked photos of yourself that you want.

What growing up in a sex cult taught me - Pt 2

Chosen family vs. blood family…what can we learn?

A peaceful walk in the seaside town of Cascais, Portugal

Your chosen family teaches you about love and care. Your blood family teaches you patience and forgiveness.

With yet another interview out about me, I’ve often been asked about the relationship with my parents.

To be honest, I never had a relationship with them. They did not raise me, and they were strangers to me as a child. They were also terrible parents and highly abusive. But they taught me valuable lessons about myself and the type of person I want to be. 

My parents are my greatest teachers. They taught me strength, adversity, empathy, compassion, kindness, vulnerability, authenticity, truthfulness, resilience, independence, and so much more. But most of all they taught me forgiveness and patience. Forgiveness to be able to set myself free from the terrible abuses of my childhood. Patience to allow them to show up as the people they are and understand that they will not change unless they want to. This is what my blood family has taught me.

My chosen family, however, taught me respect, camaraderie, community, confidence, sisterhood, support, overcoming, joy, friendship, trust, loyalty, communication, love, and care. They taught me what it means to have a true bond as either a friend, a partner, or mentor. From them I learned what healthy, loving, caring relationships looks like in the way they show up in the world for their own family, their friends, and me. 

Without true love, without knowing someone cares, what do we have? All we want is to be seen, heard, love, excepted, and respected. Without that we have nothing.

So I want to thank both my blood family and my chosen family for teaching me so much about life, about what it means to be human and providing me with so many valuable experiences and opportunities to learn and grow in this lifetime. It’s because of both my blood family and my chosen family that I am a better person today than I was just a year ago. 

I’m thankful for the pain and suffering I’ve felt through life because each time I refuse to let it bring me down, even though many times I wasn’t sure if I’d pull through. But I know that I can either allow the pain to help me grow and evolve, or I can wallow in it and sit around waiting for someone to save me.

 There was an interesting question I heard yesterday on The Diary of a CEO. And that was, if you had the ability to remove pain from life forever, would you? It took me awhile to ponder this question as with pain comes so much other stuff. Sickness, heartbreak, disease, mental issues, and more. So could I remove those as well?

i came to the conclusion similar to the interviewer. Which is that without pain, I don’t think we’d truly appreciate the joy. It would just be. We would probably go through life a bit numb, because everything is pain free. You must be alive to feel pain, and joy. That’s the balance of life. If I didn’t feel pain or suffering, I wouldn’t be alive. And I truly feel alive.

So thank you to my parents and the cult for teaching me about pain, teaching me about kindness, teaching me about healing. While I may not have wanted those lessons, I feel blessed that I was able to turn them into something valuable and beautiful, and for that I am grateful.