For the last week I have been doing a lot of soul searching and making some decisions about my life.

Being a freelance writer is tough. Working in the most competitive industry for writers is really hard. There is no guaranteed income or regular wage and sometimes you have to wait weeks or even months to get paid.

Travelling and freelancing at the same time is even tougher.

I am finally feeling the struggle of everything and to be honest, crumbling under everything that I am trying to juggle, and feeling that I want to give up. I have been on the road for the last 14 months, and haven’t seen my friends and family for that time. I am struggling without a support network around me, trying to stay afloat financially and grow the brand at the same time.

So what does this mean?

I can no longer afford to make a go of Girl about the Globe. I am taking a huge step back and concentrating on my freelance work for the moment. I have poured my heart and soul into this blog and I don’t feel I can do it anymore. I have no passion, no more energy and no more resources to put into this brand.

It takes a tremendous amount of work to write content, source guest posts, write guest posts, increase traffic, learn about marketing etc etc. I spent 8 months of my life writing a book that hasn’t even recouped a fraction of the hours or cost put into it.

So what happens now?

This is what I’ve been asking myself. Something has to give. I can no longer put my energy into trying to make things work, or spend my time and money travelling to destinations to write about them for the Girl about the Globe website, whilst living above my means.

The options:

• Give up completely and go back to England, get a 9 to 5 job and fit back into a conventional life.
• Keep pitching for more freelance work and let Girl about the Globe take a backseat.

The solution:

Girl about the Globe has to take a back seat. No more content, no more adding videos, no more GatG for a while. When your passion becomes a chore without any rewards then it’s time to stop and refocus.

What will happen?

With some posts and social media already scheduled, there will still be articles, interviews, tweets and Facebook posts going live.

But for the next few weeks, I won’t be writing anything for GatG. I have been writing a blog post at least once a week for the last 3 years and 3 months and it’s time to stop for a while.

Will I lose readers? Probably.

Will I lose momentum? Yes.

But when the joy has disappeared from something that you once loved, it’s time to take a break. It could be a week, a month or longer. I have no idea but until I get the passion back, I won’t be writing anymore. I am burnt out from doing all of this.

Thank you to everyone who has ever read or commented on the Girl about the Globe blog and I hope it has helped inspire you to travel solo.

Keep travelling and I hope to see you again soon.

Lisa x

Girl about the Globe is Back!

After a very public meltdown and baring my soul to all on my travel blog, I have finally arrived at a better place (both emotionally and geographically).

If you read my announcement back in June, you’ll have noticed that I walked away from blogging for a while, not knowing at the time if I would write any more posts.

Taking a back seat from Girl about the Globe was the best thing I could have done as it gave me time to look at everything from a different perspective and realise all the things that I was doing wrong. Ironically even though I was on the road, I was moving around too fast, suffering from travel fatigue, and not taking any time off to rest. I was chained to my laptop and have finally understood the importance of “you” time. A valuable life lesson that I should have learnt a long time ago.

This trip has been a journey that I will not forget with so many low moments that I never want to go through again:

• Thinking that I was going to get sexually attacked in Nicaragua.
• Having a melt down in Dominica and nearly having to return back to the UK and give up on my dreams.
• Thinking that someone believed in me so much that they were going to invest in GatG when they had absolutely no intention and were just stringing me along.
• Experiencing what it is actually like to go hungry in Suriname because I had no money for food.

These situations have tested me in so many different ways and have forced me to be resourceful and do something that I haven’t done before – reach out for help.

As a solo traveller, I have always thought of myself as an independent and strong woman but sometimes things happen that test us and are out of our control. I’ve made a few mistakes on this trip and something I have realised is that if I can experience these incredibly low points after travelling to 100 countries and 60 of these solo, then anyone can.

After this lovely tweet on Twitter from KatRockz who said that I inspired her to travel solo, I have decided to make a come back. No matter how much I try to shake off Girl about the Globe, I just have to face the fact that it is who I am.

So, Girl about the Globe is back! And is no longer about me.

I will still be blogging about my travels (as my passion for writing has been ignited again), but this brand has to be all about you, the solo female traveller and needs to empower and inspire more women to travel solo.

With that also comes the responsibility of looking after fellow travellers when they are on the road and are in need of a helping hand, just like I was.

So I’m excited to announce that I’ll be holding a Solo Travel webinar – an opportunity to meet other solo female travellers and ask any questions about travelling solo whether it’s how to get on the road in the first place, the best countries to travel to if it’s your first time, how to meet others or even how to fund your trip on the road.

After travelling and working abroad for nearly 17 years, plus now reaching my goal of visiting 100 countries (woohoo!) I want to take a backseat from travelling for a while and help you to get on the road.

This webinar is free and there is no sales pitch at the end, just a group of women just like you to talk about their joys and challenges of travelling solo.

Fancy joining us?

Sign up for the webinar here (click on the pink button below)

So, what happens now?

The weekly blog posts are back, and after spending 5 months in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean (and I’m really not kidding) there are so many posts to come.

Next week I’ll be posting about my snorkelling trip to the gorgeous Tortuga Island in Costa Rica. Stay tuned! The adventures of Girl about the Globe are back…

Exciting news! – Girl about the Globe has just been listed as one of the Top 100 UK Travel Blogs by Discount My Flights (feeling very proud).