I’m not that kind of girl
Rewriting your internal story
Last week, I spent three days hiking through the majestic Flinders Ranges in South Australia. It was the ultimate combo of roughing it (we slept under the stars) and luxury (as we walked into camp each night, our host Bernie met us with a tray of freshly squeezed juices and aromatherapy-infused face towels…total White Lotus moment!).
I surprised myself by going on this holiday — and enjoying it! Why?
👉I’m not a hiker.
👉I’m not the kind of person who enjoys camping.
👉I’m not a woman who goes three days without washing her hair!
At least — I wasn’t before last week.
But I smashed it! I perched on rocky outcrops, stood back to let emus run by, and fell asleep in my swag with the wind howling through gum trees. As I took deep gulps of insanely fresh air each day, I felt so alive and I knew I was rewriting my story.
Rubbing out the ‘nots’
The words we use to describe ourselves, publicly and privately, can box us in and hold us back.
You probably have a running narrative in your head about what you are, and what you’re not.
As a woman, it’s almost a given. From a young age you hear that you’re not the kind of girl who disobeys her parents, who takes risks with her body, who rocks the boat in public, who asks for more than she deserves. You then carry this limiting self-talk into your adult life.
It can be hard to change your story when someone else wrote it for you in the first place. Can you really take their pen away and be the author of your own epic novel?
YES!
Rewrite your story
You can choose to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’, as I did last week. I arrived at Arkaba Station as a city girl who knew she wouldn’t cope in the great outdoors. But I returned three days later with plans to do it all again (Tassie wilderness, here I come!).
Or you can choose to imagine a different future and rewrite your story first.
Who do you want to be? Go out and create the proof that it’s real through brave action!
Your new words are your superpower!
Want to have your own Arkaba adventure?
If you’re an Aussie who wants to explore their own backyard, or a traveller looking to connect with an authentic community in the outback, check our Arkaba Station! Arkaba is a 60,000 acre private nature conservancy with different options to hike, or stay and day-tour.
