Self-Portraits

Destination(s): London, UK and Paris, FR.

Airline: U.S. Airways.

Companion(s): Me, myself, and I.
Challenge: Accepting my self-portrait.

Outcome: A trip I will never forget.

Late last year, I had an adventure...one which I will never forget. 

I went on holiday--by myself--to London and Paris. 

When I share this with people, I often get similar reactions: Why by yourself?  Were you scared?  Did you get lonely?  My answers, respectively: Just because.  Not really.  Nope, I got to know myself in a whole new way.

It all came about because I had a revelation: I can't just keep waiting for "the right time" to follow my dreams.  I have to live out who God created me to be and follow the dreams he's given to me right now.  One of those dreams?  To travel.

There were times before (and during) when I questioned my ability to travel by myself and there were moments when I felt anxious about being alone, but those were untruths.  I can do these things, because I was fundamentally created to do them...by just being me, by accepting my self-portrait.

From the moment I touched down at Heathrow International Airport (LHR), to the moment I stepped off the EuroStar train in Paris, to the moment my plane touched off the ground en route back to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), I lived out ME.  I was uninhibited by anyone's expectations--including my own.  I was liberated to follow my intution in where to go and what to do.  I experienced God's love and sovereignty on the Westminster Bridge, while watching the sun set behind the Houses of Parliament.

Silly as it may sound, every trip I take has a distinct personality...and a soundtrack.  This trip's personality?  Liberation, acceptance, and freedom from expectations.  The soundtrack?  Anberlin, "You Belong Here."

While clearly a love song between a guy and a girl, to me--standing on the Westminster Bridge, over the River Thames--it was God's love song to me.  "You belong here, you were meant to be; you belong here, you were meant to be with me."  I was meant to be who I am.  I was meant to follow the dreams he has for me.  This is the self-portrait I was living out in that moment--in the here and now.

I can't just keep waiting to live the life God has for me or to be the person I was created to be.  No, I need to fully accept the self-portait of ME...every day.  I belong here. 

Oh, the joy of living in the self-portrait of freedom.

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As a single traveler, you have to get creative in photo-taking.  Here are some examples--from London to Paris.