How a Seattle Trip Provided a Business Idea and Learning to Date Myself- 2020
I mentioned before how I dropped a stupid amount of money to go to Seattle over President’s Day weekend to escape DC and a broken heart in February 2020. Fun fact, two days after the trip, Seattle became the hot spot of Covid! Thankfully, I did not catch it, and I got in one last trip before the world shut down.
I stayed in the Green Tortoise Hostel across the street from Pike’s Place. I have stayed at many hostels in America, Canada, and Iceland. I like hostels for these reasons: The people you meet, the hostel activities, and a cheap place to rest your head before you return to exploring again. There are two significant downsides: the beds and people checking in or out at 2 am while you are trying to sleep!
I didn’t know or expect that Seattle would profoundly affect me since I went to nurse a broken heart. I thought this would be like any other trip to escape my life. But Seattle made me realize my actual purpose in life and introduced me to a business idea I would love to pursue one day. If you know me, I have/had specific career goals that I wanted to hit and stay doing for the next 30-35 years and then retire from that life. That was the life I wanted, the fast past, city life, trying to make a difference. Does that life sound familiar to most of you? Now… ehhhhhh…. that’s not the journey I want to continue; I want to get off the rat race of life.
Again, I have stayed at a good share of hostels, and I never had a grand idea of changing my life like this. This hostel wasn’t fancy or super special. They did theme nights such as family dinner style, bar crawl, karaoke, etc. Karaoke night was unique, not because anyone sang amazingly, but it was when I had the light bulb moment – maybe from being drunk on free beer or the people-watching, in between playing beer pong and listening to people sing, I felt I had a new life purpose.
The next day a little hungover and still having jet lag from the three-hour difference, I woke to this idea that I couldn’t let go. I called a friend later that day who is my go-to person for some of the other 384,678,123,567 ideas I’ve had that I wanted to get feedback on. She is very hesitant about taking chances or pursuing new things in life. I told her how I wanted to open my own hostel one day and bring people together while they were traveling. I couldn’t believe I had said those words. Because I NEVER wanted to own my own business. I had never heard her more excited about my career choice. I still remember what she said to me “B, FINALLLLLLLY!!! This makes more sense than trying to work for ……...!” For her to be excited about a new, riskier career choice made me think, “Hey! This idea isn’t as crazy as I thought.”
When I was hurting from my breakup and knowing my ex was out doing his own adventures, I started to learn how to date myself again in Seattle. Before I met him, I did these Friday night date nights with myself at my local coffee shop, having wine and reading a book. I was trying to get to know myself, a theme you will see in my blogs. I was slowly learning who I was as a human. Even though my ex and I were on the same page about being independent and having our alone time, I forgot to continue to date myself while we were together. I was too caught up in not “fucking up” this relationship that I actually “fucked up” the relationship with myself.
This brings me back to Seattle; yes, I did some awesome stuff, but over the course of a 3.5-day weekend, I started to remember what it was like to have an adventure with myself. How I made myself go out on Valentine’s Day, my least favorite holiday, surrounded by couples eating semi-overpriced sushi. I knew that would be hard, but I also realized, in a way, that I needed to treat myself as special as these couples were treating themselves. For a split second on this trip, I started to find my way back to myself. I finally sat with myself, with nothing more than some cheap beer, and learned that I had a new desire in life, something I hadn’t had in a long time.
As I mentioned, I never thought a trip could be so life-changing, but this was the first of many travels that have changed my perspective of my life and how I want to live. Looking back on this trip planted another seed for creating this blog. Yes, I did say I wanted to open my own hostel, and still do, because I love bringing people together, telling their stories, meeting each other, and having a cheaper place to stay so they can focus on their adventures. But in some ways, I could say that this website is just the first hostel I am building until the work starts on an actual building.
So, tell me. What was your light bulb moment when traveling, camping, hiking, running, paddleboarding, kayaking, etc.? And has that idea stuck with you, or have you pushed it away?
Keep having adventures, and keep dating yourself.