Discovering Your Life’s Purpose: On How to Align Your Goals with Your True Self

I was honoured to be featured by Authority Magazine in a conversation about purpose, transformation, and the journeys that quietly change us.

This blog post was created alongside the interview published on 29 May 2025 and continues the reflections we explored there; how intentional travel, nature, and moments of pause can help us reconnect with ourselves and create lives that feel more aligned from within.

At The Journey Studio, I believe the most meaningful journeys are rarely only about the destination. They are about returning to your own direction, values, and way of being.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I come from Finland, the world’s happiest country for 8 years running, where I have always returned for its grounding calm after studying and working in the USA, Europe, and Asia.

After a successful leadership career in marketing and tourism, I experienced burnout. I needed a pause, distance from everything I had been responsible for.

When I applied for a sabbatical, I began to see light at the end of the tunnel and started preparing for my first solo adventure. I am a mother of two adult sons and had already been separated from their father for several years. During my six-month intentional reset, I combined some family travel with my sons and parents across Iceland, Peru, the USA, Spain, Belgium, the UAE, Thailand and Finland, naturally. For the first time, I felt a clear calling to also travel solo, returning to meaningful places and people along the way.

I did not fully understand the transformative journey I had embarked on until I found myself paused at Machu Picchu. Walking through the ancient ruins, with a butterfly suddenly appearing beside me in the Andes, I felt more alive than I had in years. As I exited through the gate, I knew I was heading in an entirely new direction.

Later, I drove across Spain in a manual Fiat and visited the Alhambra, where I had once been young and in love with my fiancé. This time, walking alone among the autumn colors, I stepped forward with a sense of peace and understood that I was truly okay on my own.

One realization led to another. My connection to myself led me to The Travel Coach Network, where I became engaged. While studying transformation, I returned to my home woods, where I finally began to hear myself and understand the simplicity of it all. Within the following year, I became a certified transformative travel coach (ICF/CCE), created my Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® nature-based methology, left my career, finalized my divorce, and founded The Journey Studio.

Today, I am grateful to have found myself again, leaving behind what no longer serves me and building a life around authentic connection, while helping others pause and reconnect with themselves.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person that you are grateful for, who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

The person I am most grateful for is my father, whose encouragement and example have given me the courage to explore and grow.

Simply put, growing up as his daughter, I never felt limited by being a girl. I didn’t realize there were expectations about how one should or should not be because of gender. He was always present, engaging with me, with my horse, and later allowing me to grow by working in his business as a teenager.

I admired his way of working: leading by example, understanding the trade from the ground up, and being available to his customers, even on weekends if they needed him.

There were no limitations placed on my vision, and no expectations for me to take over his business. Instead, he encouraged me to study for a business degree, believing I could do anything.

As I later moved from West to East during my studies and career, I came to understand what a privilege this upbringing was. It has shaped my path, and I have found deep meaning in empowering women and girls first through lecturing at university, and now through my coaching work.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I come from a country of sisu: the Finnish concept of quiet persistence and inner strength that carries you through even the hardest moments.

We all face times when we are alone on our path, encountering changing conditions, much like the weather in Finland or the unpredictability of business. There are obstacles, uncertainty, and situations where things do not go as planned. While challenges can be solved together, you must also learn to manage yourself. In those moments, you draw on something deeper.

Sisu is not aggression, nor is it simply endurance. It is the quiet decision to continue with responsibility when conditions are not ideal. It is also the wisdom to step aside when needed. It is a form of self-leadership, and it has been the most important characteristic in my journey.

When I was building Star Cineplex, Bangladesh’s first multiplex cinema, the early years were difficult. We were introducing an entirely new concept, educating audiences, and creating a safe, welcoming environment for families. There were many challenges, but I stayed committed as Managing Director, building connections, leading the team from ticket counters to management, and continuing the work step by step until it began to succeed. Today, Star Cineplex is the largest cinema chain in the country.

Secondly, courage has guided me throughout my life. It has taken me to new countries, new roles, and opportunities I did not hesitate to embrace. I have learned by doing, and I have also learned to listen to trust the expertise of others when needed. Courage grows through action, and even through uncertainty.

Recently, courage meant stepping away from a well-established director role and beginning again as an entrepreneur. During my burnout, I felt I had lost that courage. I went searching for it during my sabbatical travels. Relearning to drive a manual car and navigating my way across Spain became unexpectedly empowering. Alongside meaningful conversations with a coach, I began to reconnect with myself. At 54, I realized that courage had not disappeared, but it had simply changed form. My experience and wisdom now carry me forward, and courage continues to grow step by step.

Thirdly, my connection to nature and my inner senses has been a guiding force throughout my life. Growing up close to nature gave me a strong sense of awareness of seasons, emotions, and intuition. I developed an inner knowing of what feels right or not, often without needing to analyze it.

This connection has helped me meet the right people, be in the right places, and sense when to move forward or step back. However, during the most intense years of my career, I lost that connection. I became overwhelmed, disconnected from myself, and no longer listened to my inner voice.

Looking back, I feel compassion for that version of myself, constantly moving, holding everything together, yet no longer present or enjoying life. My body eventually responded, as it often does, forcing me to stop.

During my sabbatical, that connection began to return, step by step. I found my way back home within myself.

Today, I do not regret the journey. I may have let go of certain roles, possessions, and even relationships along the way, but I have regained something far more valuable; myself, and a renewed connection to my inner sense and direction.

Ok, fantastic. Let’s now turn to the crux of our interview. Was there a defining moment or experience in your life when you felt a clear sense of your purpose? How did it influence the goals you set from that point forward?

In January 2025, I profoundly knew that my life was changing. My sabbatical was nearing its end, and the return to the office and to my old ways was approaching.

All the inner understanding I had gathered during my travels had been building up. I had enrolled in the Travel Coaching program, and suddenly, I began to see again.

When I returned to Finland and wandered in the forests, I understood what nature had given me all these years: the silent support, never leaving me alone, awakening my senses. My recovery, returning to my senses, came through reconnecting with nature, and with my own nature.

This is now the root of my coaching method, and to me, it is also the root of Finnish happiness.

Walking along the nature trail at my Lake Saimaa villa, I remember breathing in with a clear sense of purpose. That was where I began building my Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® method. Luontopolku means nature trail in my native language.

Not only did I see, but I felt it. It was as if the ground beneath my feet was shifting as I stepped onto a new path, letting go of the old and moving forward in my relationships, work, and life.

I was still scared, but also triumphant, relieved to be moving on, almost as if walking a few feet above the ground. I felt free again, yet deeply conscious of my choices.

From that point, I began to map out my actions for the year ahead. I created space and processes to begin something new, while ensuring that my previous responsibilities were handled with care and continuity.

I was able to let go, no longer needing to feed my ego or maintain a certain image. Life became simpler. I began to enjoy connection, conversation, presence, and being back in nature, in tune with my own nature. My curiosity and creativity returned.

I found myself doing what I love again: creating, exploring, and pushing boundaries. I became deeply interested in what nature does to us and the inner connection it can awaken.

At the same time, I made a quiet but firm decision: I would no longer stay in situations that do not serve me or live out of alignment with who I truly am.

I chose to focus on what is meaningful. To do less, but with more intention. To help others while also living in peace myself.

And in that moment, I realized something simple yet profound:

I no longer needed to escape my life or travel far to find myself.

I was already home.

What practical steps can someone take to begin uncovering their life’s purpose if they feel lost or unsure about their direction?

It is okay to feel lost at times. It happens to all of us. But in truth, we are never completely lost, the inner knowing is still there.

I believe that much of the busyness we have created for ourselves, this constant doing and performing based on what we think we are supposed to do, can lead us away from our true path. By losing our connection with nature, we often lose connection with ourselves. Yet I also believe we can always find our way back home.

The Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® method I developed during my Travel Coach studies does not require you to travel far. It requires listening.

In Finland, we say:

“The forest answers what you shout into it.”

Research in Finland shows that even 10 minutes in nature can calm the heartbeat, while time spent walking in nature lowers cortisol levels, supports burnout recovery, helps prevent depression, and enhances mindfulness.

In simple terms: go out for a walk in nature on your own and listen. Feel the wind, touch what draws your attention, and allow yourself to wander. Notice the small things that catch your awareness as these are often cues guiding you forward.

If you wish to explore this more deeply, you can use reflective walking resources or join a guided walk. Taking distance and immersing yourself in new surroundings can also bring clarity. When we travel intentionally, we often begin to see more clearly who we are, what we miss, and what we no longer need.

I believe that giving yourself time, being alone with intention, and following your calling in small steps will gradually lead you toward clarity, and toward your purpose.

How do you differentiate between external pressures—like societal expectations—and the inner calling that aligns with your true self?

I believe that we carry the answers within us, and by questioning ourselves intentionally, we begin to receive sensory affirmation on our path.

To better listen in, I recommend setting off solo, preferably on a nature trail, with a question or issue in the back of your mind that you need clarity on. As you walk, nature begins to show signs that only you can truly understand.

Starting to pay attention to what arises intuitively brings us closer to clarity. The more we tune into our sensory reflections, the more we learn to trust and believe in them. If something does not feel right, we feel it.

When walking and talking with friends or family, it is important to remember that the perspectives they share are reflections of their own experiences and expectations of us. If we feel that we do not wish to share something with someone, that is often a cue, an invitation to recognize that differentiation.

Can you share an example of a time when you adjusted or abandoned a goal because it no longer aligned with your deeper sense of purpose? What did you learn from that experience?

I spent years building the Lake Saimaa brand and destination in Finland. I stepped into a role I had been headhunted for with strong ambition, establishing connections and growing visibility in our target markets. I come from this region and have always felt a deep love for it, along with a desire to bring it to the world stage.

As the work progressed, I was given more teams, responsibilities, and overlapping boards and projects. I am a connector and a doer, someone who ensures everything is taken care of but along the way, I forgot to pause myself. I lost my creativity, which had once fueled my marketing work and authorship, and it was no longer present.

I have always valued bringing people together and enabling others to succeed. Yet over time, I found myself doing my own work last and gradually losing myself during those intense years. At the same time, global external factors were affecting the region’s performance and accessibility, adding further pressure.

At one point, in the midst of prolonged stress, I was no longer courageous. My thinking became blurred, my clarity and vision faded, and I lost connection to my own inner sense.

For a long time, I kept performing, operating in a haze, repeating what I knew, until I finally found the courage to stop and step aside. I took a sabbatical to distance myself from something I had once deeply loved.

I chose not to return to my role. Instead, I stepped into entrepreneurship, where I now continue to represent the Lake Saimaa region in a different, more aligned way.

What I learned is that working in a way that disconnects you from yourself is not worth it, for you or for the work you do. When we are no longer able to give what we truly can, something essential is lost.

Only working is not living, and too much of anything becomes too much. We need to remain in tune with ourselves, to pause early enough, and to maintain balance in our lives.

This is the main question of our interview. What are “5 Ways to Align Your Goals With Your True Self”? (please share stories or examples)

Thank you for this opportunity to share how I approach alignment.

Through my Luontopolku – Back to Your Senses® methodology, I use nature as a framework for reflection, allowing nature to guide us back to our own nature.

It is a nature-based transformational wellbeing and travel method designed to guide individuals back to clarity and inner balance. Rooted in mindful presence, sensory awareness, and reflective guidance, it creates a structured yet intuitive path for personal insight and purposeful change.

The approach integrates movement in nature, reflective exercises, intentional pauses, and meaning-centered travel coaching into a holistic experience.

It follows five stages: pause, sensory awareness, threshold recognition, integration, and forward direction.

1. Pause

Meaningful change begins when we slow down.

Take time alone. Step away from your roles and responsibilities. Just be.

Ask yourself: Is this the life I am meant to live? Who am I without these roles?

I meet many high performers who never allow themselves to pause. Yet even ten minutes alone in nature can shift perspective. One executive told me that sitting quietly on a fallen tree, time stopped, and they wondered why they had never allowed themselves that before.

2. Sensory Awareness

Once we pause, we begin to notice.

Walk intentionally in nature with a question in mind. What is missing? What needs to change?

Nature begins to offer subtle cues through what draws your attention, what feels calming, what creates a sense of ease or resistance. Some feel drawn to water, others to rock or forest. These are not random, they are signals.

Many people I work with discover a deep need to be near water. By simply honoring that, they begin to feel more at peace. Start by bringing your natural element into your life.

3. Threshold Recognition

As awareness grows, moments of clarity emerge.

These often happen in open spaces; a viewpoint, a shoreline, a place that invites perspective. Something shifts.

You may suddenly realize what you have been holding onto, and why.

For me, this meant understanding that my long-held goal of staying married was no longer aligned with the reality of our lives living in separate countries.

These are threshold moments, the point where truth becomes visible.

4. Integration

Clarity alone is not enough; we need to integrate it into our lives.

This is where reflection and conversation become important. Speaking your thoughts out loud, often with a coach, helps you understand what you are ready to change.

Walking side by side, without pressure, allows thoughts to unfold naturally.

This is often when I hear: “This is what I am going to do.”

5. Forward Direction

With clarity comes movement.

Instead of pushing your dreams aside, you begin to move toward them. Courage grows step by step.

It is no longer about imagining a different life; it is about choosing it, one step at a time. Even small shifts create momentum.

Recently, in a conversation with a coach colleague, I saw this moment clearly, when she turned from responding to an opportunity that wasn’t truly hers, and instead chose to move toward something she deeply desired.

Alignment is not about one big decision.

It is about pausing, listening, and moving forward, again and again, in tune with yourself.

What advice would you give to people trying to pursue their purpose while managing the demands of day-to-day life, such as work, family, and other responsibilities?

Stay true to yourself while also honoring the people you share your life and work with.

Once you begin to understand your purpose and your needs, the next step is to integrate them into your existing life. This may require adjustments, small sacrifices, and finding balance by focusing on what truly matters to you.

Communicate openly: your feelings, your needs, your requirements for space or time. Have these conversations regularly, set your boundaries, and respect those of others.

In the end, you are the most important person in your life. When you are well and aligned, the people around you thrive as well.

How can our readers further follow your work?

You can connect with me through The Journey Studio, my company website at www.thejourneystudio.co, where you can explore ongoing programs, subscribe to my newsletter, or book a discovery call with me.

I’m always open and happy to connect.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Read on if you feel called to explore your own New Beginning.

The Circle Closes

This January 2026, I am returning to Helsinki Matka Nordic Travel Fair an altogether different role: as a fellow traveler.

Once a travel executive and promoter of the Lake Saimaa region, I now stand here to tell how travel can take us to places, but more importantly, how it can bring us back home, within. When we travel intentionally, paying attention to ourselves and our surroundings, connecting with people and places, we also journey deeper into ourselves. Travel shows us how else life could be. It takes us off autopilot, sometimes even out of our comfort zones. In doing so, it resets us, supports our wellbeing, and invites reflection: are these new experiences something we want more of in our lives?

Travel as a Counterbalance

While the world speeds ahead and constantly pushes our boundaries with its demands, travel becomes a counterbalance, a resetting force that allows us to slow down and return to something that calls us. A feeling. A place. A moment where we see ourselves glowing again. As travelers, we are free, at our purest. When nobody knows us, we can shed our masks. We no longer need to play roles. We can simply be.

And we do not need to travel far. Or for long. We only need to turn our ear inward and allow ourselves the moments we truly need.

Nature as the Way Back

For me, nature has always been that place of return. It has echoed my answers back to me, allowed me to be alone in safety, and reminded me of who I am. Solo moments in nature; walking trails, slow rituals, quiet reflection, inner conversations bring us back to our own path. The more often we return to nature with a question in our hearts, seeking clarity, the clearer the picture becomes. Our breath softens. Our direction sharpens.

I believe it can be that simple.
Our nature is calling us all.

Listening Instead of Performing

We do not need yoga or breathing techniques, although I know they are wonderful and do much good. We can simply begin by giving ourselves time. By walking. By listening. By allowing what moves us to guide our choices and, in time, our travels.

A Year of Transformation

Last year marked a profound turning point for me as I founded my own business as a transformative travel coach. It has been a year of change, of reconnecting with wonderful people, both familiar and new, and of building wellbeing-focused travel experiences in Finland and abroad.

Returning to Helsinki Matka Nordic Travel Fair

At Helsinki Travel Mart this year, I am speaking as the founder of The Journey Studio, sharing my story and my Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® method. I am also honored to represent my dear partner Aktiv-Resor, speaking about how travel can bring wellbeing into our lives through experiences such as our “Appelsiinipuut kukkivat jo Valenciassa” retreat.

I will be available to meet from Friday 16 January to Sunday 18 January, and on Saturday 17 January from 13:00 to 14:30 you are warmly invited to join us at the Aktiv-Resor stand 7p128 for a connecting hour with my inspiring friend Saimi Hoyer.

Back Where I Belong

Travel and taking time for myself brought me back to where I belong: happy, present, and on a journey I now build consciously, day by day.

I look forward to meeting you at the fair, later this year, or wherever your path may take you. I would be honored to walk alongside your journey.

Happy travels,
Mirka

Read more about:

Appelsiinipuut kukkivat jo Valenciassa retreat.

Plan your own journey.

Pohdi omaa matkaasi kanssani.

Live for Yourself While Being There for Others

I had a meaningful encounter this week while called to a particular trail. Walking along the hilly Montgó side street, I stopped under a tall eucalyptus whose scent filled the air. As I admired its wide, textured trunk, an elderly lady appeared as if invited to the same spot.

In the golden setting sun, we began to talk, a blend of English, Spanish, and German unfolding between us. I learned that she had recently lost her husband of decades and was now alone in his country, far from her own circle. I listened, feeling that my role was simply to be there, assuring her that community and connection would return if she reached out.

Before parting ways, we hugged, she with her little dog, patiently waiting. Two strangers meeting under an old tree, both reminded that we are never truly alone.

Choosing Ourselves, Too

We are fortunate when life grants us long partnerships that shape who we are. Yet while we choose our partners every day, we must also remember to choose ourselves: to nurture our own paths, friendships, and independence.

One day we may stand alone, and if we’ve never practiced it, solitude can feel overwhelming. For me, learning to let others care for me has been just as important as learning to stand on my own. When we’re too used to someone else arranging things, it can take time to rediscover our own rhythm.

Solo hobbies, short trips, or longer adventures benefit both ourselves and our partners, offering space to reflect on who we are and what we seek in each other.

Redefining Our Roles

This week’s conversations reminded me how universal these transitions are; losing a partner, separating, or watching children move out. Each change reshapes our lives and redefines our roles.

That’s why it’s so vital to pause and ask:

Who am I beyond these familiar patterns? What still defines me?

Nature as a Way Back

For me, nature walks have always been my way back: sorting thoughts, reconnecting with myself, and grounding in the moment. Movement in nature unlocks emotions that words often hide.

Set out intentionally with a question to yourself. Walk in silence. Reach for a tree, feel the wind, notice the scent of the earth. When we engage our senses, emotional truths unfold, and sometimes they make us cry, sometimes laugh.

Have a wonderful weekend. Step out, even for a short while, and let the path remind you of yourself.

If you are interested in try the Luontopolku reflective walk guide.

Care for Yourself

We often feel responsible for everyone but ourselves. We take care of children, family, spouse, parents, and work. At work, we leave nothing unfinished and ensure others have answers; at home, we make sure everyone else takes their breaks.

It’s admirable to be reliable, the person everyone can turn to but who do you turn to? Who allows the leave for you? There may even be the option: adequate holidays, understanding supervisors who won’t push you for yet another achievement—but do you allow yourself to take it?

Fear Wears Many Faces

Fear can appear as being unheard, missing out, becoming left out, forgotten. Perhaps the hardest: facing yourself without structure, after so long taking care of others, managing responsibilities, following routines.

Being alone with your thoughts can feel bewildering, yet it’s here you can start listening. You can question the weight in your backpack and ask yourself:
“Do I really need to carry all this anymore?”

Start Gently

Care for yourself a little at a time.
Pay attention. Turn your ear to the journey waiting. Accept that you also need time, space, and peace.

Allow yourself to unwind in ways that feel natural. Travel and leisure trips are not challenges to conquer, achievements to measure, or races to win.

Beauty lives in the moments in between, in the truths hidden under ordinary stones. Mindful walks in nature, strolling through an unfamiliar street on a work trip, turning your gaze inward all can spark small aha moments, giving depth and clarity to your reflections.

Time is precious. Connecting with yourself begins the journey toward your natural calling. It may smoothen your experience where you are or eventually lead you somewhere entirely new but the most important thing is that you are steering.

Walking Together

As a certified travel coach and fellow traveler, I walk with people who are questioning the weight of their backpack and what to carry forward.

The journey is yours, and I’m here for the moments you need. I’ll walk alongside as you map where you wish to go using travel as your vehicle.

Pause. Reflect. Consider what you truly want.

Together, we can plan your journey back to your senses whether it’s a personal reflection path, a solo adventure you long to embark on, or a wellness retreat where you wish to immerse fully. Just book a discovery call to chat about your desires.

Courage is Everything

Taking the Leap

A year ago, on 31.7., I took a leap: a sabbatical that would change my life.

I grew up believing anything was possible; my father encouraging, my mother cautioning. I had moved abroad for studies and work, traveled across the world when I got married, and started my own business. Yet after living through a military takeover and a real estate collapse, courage felt far away.

For years, my children, my calm hometown, and my work in the municipal sector provided a safe haven. I embraced Finland fully and gave all the creativity I could to my employer.

Getting Stuck vs. Moving Forward

It’s easy to get stuck in the rhythm of daily life, sucked into work, only thinking about the next weekend. Work trips and holidays were my windows to the world, my moments to explore and discover new paths.

As the kids grew up, the older I got, the scarier the thought of making any changes became.

Until staying put became the scariest thought of all.

I’m still scared every day. But that tingling on your skin when you’re alive? That’s worth everything.

What I Gained

My sabbatical came with a price, but I don’t count what I lost. I count what I gained: myself.

The most precious thing I own. And you can find that too.

Looking back, I hardly recognize the person I was: anxious, exhausted, a tired bureaucrat. Reading the cover of my novel All That is Yours still makes me shiver:

“Anna wanted to turn away from the path, even briefly. The independent Finn longed for a new kind of freedom before finding herself organizing already organized affairs in some central headquarters in Central Finland.”

It’s Okay to Be Scared

It’s okay to be scared. But don’t be afraid to listen to yourself.

Even a single intentional walk can spark clarity.

A short trip outside your usual circles can reconnect you to yourself.

A holiday should leave you empowered, not just until the flight home, but beyond into your everyday life.

How I Can Help

I guide people to reconnect with themselves, awaken their inner calling, and experience journeys that strengthen well-being. I’ve navigated many changes in life, and I’ve never felt more alive.

If you’re ready to explore what drives you:

• Fill out an Exploration Session Questionnaire

• Book a Discovery Session

• Join our Autumn Special, available until the end of the month

For Readers Curious About the Story

And if you’re curious about the story that inspired part of this journey, my novel All That is Yours is available as a paperback or eBook on Amazon.

Horses Can Talk

How Jack the Irish Cob and a walk in nature led to courage, connection, and healing

We should walk the walk—not just talk.
I believe our steps can lead us intuitively to where we are meant to go.

Since I began walking—literally and metaphorically—serendipitous events have kept unfolding. I started my sabbatical tour of Spain by driving to Oliva beach in the autumn of 2024. Soon after settling in, I found Centro Hípico Oliva and went riding the very next day.

By January, I had moved to Dénia and, through booking a hairdresser, discovered she kept her horse at the same stables. I returned to ride with her. The natural beauty of Oliva's nature reserve—with water bodies, birds, and wildlife framed by mountains—soon became a grounding space for me. Alongside Montgó, it offered peace.

Meeting Jack

This July, a curious Irish Cob named Jack caught my attention. Observing me with his stablemates, he seemed to seek connection. He was talkative, a little cheeky, and clearly eager to do more. I suggested to his owner that I ride him out, but she was hesitant—terrified, in fact.

Jack had lived in Spain for a year but had never gone out on a hack. His owner only rode him in circles, gripped by fear from a fall when Jack was younger.

A Coaching Journey in the Saddle

Anne-Marie, Jack’s owner, had also recently acquired Novela, an 18-year-old Spanish mare. Longing to ride Jack outdoors again, she agreed to a one-week plan that combined intention setting, coaching, and gentle progress.

I rode Jack while Anne-Marie rode Novela. The horses sensed her nerves, and Jack, being a spirited soul, added a dose of macho energy to our first ride. We rode several times together, gradually increasing the distance, adding gaits, and building confidence. Anne-Marie and I also had one-on-one sessions to ensure everyone—horse and human—felt safe and seen. Jack responded beautifully—curious, expressive, and engaged. On day seven, Anne-Marie rode Jack confidently by my side, a moment she called a triumph.

Walking Toward Courage

Anne-Marie’s dream was to ride Jack to their new home in the countryside. But until we met, she hadn’t found anyone to support her in that journey. Yesterday, she did it—with me walking beside her.

It was exactly what she was meant to do, and she did it with pride. She's now smiling, glowing, and enjoying her horse—and herself—more freely than before.

Let the Journey Lead You

I don’t know how these things unfold—but they do. Since I’ve been walking my walk, staying connected to my senses and inner nature, I move lighter every day.

Would you like to dare something new for yourself?
Don’t let fear hold you hostage. You can walk around it.

Send me a note. Let’s see where your path can take you.

🌀 — Mirka Kristiina
Transformative Travel Coach | The Journey Studio

Humans Travel For—and With—Humans

Travel is all about wellbeing, and we are different people on different journeys. Whether traveling together or solo, we are always seeking something deeper: space, time, togetherness, distance, or connection. But these are not the words we typically hear when booking a trip. Instead, we see the glimmer of well-known destinations with iconic sights and sunsets flashing at us online.

Yet often, it’s the offbeat trails, the smaller towns, the cobblestone villages that leave a lasting imprint. Cultural immersion, nature connection, and authentic human encounters—these are what turn a trip into something truly transformative.

What Is Calling You?

It’s good to ask ourselves why we want to go somewhere. What is calling us? Sometimes we feel the urge to do something, to be somewhere—but don’t yet know where or why. Maybe there’s a way of traveling we’ve never tried, or a destination we’ve held back from because of what we’ve heard or assumed.

Maybe there’s more we could bring back from our holidays—insight, peace, presence—if we started with intention and allowed ourselves to follow the deeper cause behind our desire to journey. Maybe it’s finally time.

My Journey to Solo Travel

Looking back, I’ve progressed from family trips to traveling alone with my children to meaningful destinations. It took years to realize I didn’t need to wait for someone else’s availability.

Solo travel, for me, began as a way to meet someone—my own quiet escape. But somewhere along the way, I realized I didn’t need a reason or a person to justify going. I could simply travel for myself.

As I began following my own interests—horseback riding, nature trails, slow mornings in unfamiliar places—I found something surprising: serendipitous encounters, spontaneous joy, and a renewed sense of self.

It’s Not the Destination

It’s never just about the destination. It’s the journey—the transportive moments along the way—that remind us who we are. These experiences have the power to reconnect us with our inner compass and support us in becoming fully empowered, content individuals—wherever we happen to be.

Fast-track search engines and AI can get you the ticket, but not the clarity you’re looking for. That comes step by step: through conversation, reflection, presence, and paying attention.

Travel Can Be Your Tool

Helping others find clarity and confidence has become my calling—especially when they don’t yet know the exact direction, only that it’s time.

I hope you find that time for yourself too.

Use travel as your tool. Not just for escaping, but for returning—to your self-esteem, your rhythm, and the connections that nourish you.

🌿 Begin with intention:

Download my intentional travel guide:

Luontopolku – A Nature Trail Back to Your Senses

📞 Feel something calling?

Book a free discovery call to explore how your next step might look.

🧭 Want to travel solo—together?

Join us for a transformative retreat in Alicante, October 9–12.

Limited spots available.

Alma de Verano

How we find our way.

Traveling solo is often easier to begin when you have a destination, a program, or a friend to meet.

At least for me, it was a kind of crazy idea to drive to see my friend now residing in Mijas while traveling through Spain during my sabbatical. It’s a bit of a drive from Oliva, Valencia, where I was staying—trailing the mountains and seaside, basking in Mediterranean November.

Excited to get on the road, I planned my route to reach my dwellings by nightfall, stopping to see places and visit cities along the way. Anxious about the highways at first in my tiny stick-shift Fiat, I gradually settled into road trip mode—lunching, navigating parallel parking in narrow streets, and staying in small hotels.

Walking alone at the beach on the third morning in Nerja, I noticed people smiling at me. Sitting down with a coffee and churros, I realized it was me smiling wide while strolling along—attracting smiles in return.

The Detour That Wasn’t

That afternoon, I navigated my way to Kristi’s panoramic villa.

We had been colleagues-turned-friends for over a decade, and there was the typical laughter, memories, and reflections on where we both were in life. But there was something more.

The two days we spent walking, sharing meals, or simply sitting and gazing at the sunset over the sea became a turning point in the trip for me. Without realizing it, I kept repeating something—which she gently asked back to me. Hugging each other warmly, I continued my journey toward another destination: a hike at Caminito del Rey, reflecting on our conversation in the back of my mind.

My road led me to Alhambra in Granada by accident, and the walk there felt as meant to be as the earlier legs of my journey—each grounding the pebble stones under my feet, helping me carry on. As I grabbed the wheel and drove back to the Montgó mountainside, I felt I needed to continue being here.

By the time I returned to Oliva, I had one day left for sightings yet to be seen.

Coming Full Circle

Now developing my own transformative travel coaching services for travelers and destinations, I come across the same limiting beliefs I also once carried.

I see the dreams, the aspirations, the urge to do something—to live the life we are called to lead. But we often carry a backpack full of unresolved issues that quietly weigh us down.

I now notice others repeating themselves—and I gently ask their words back to them, just as she once did for me last November.

The journey is always traveled a step at a time, without knowing the destination.

There are transportive moments along the way—moments that bring you back to yourself.

Alma de Verano

Next to me now hangs Alma de Verano, a painting I ordered from my mentor Kirsti.

It did its own winding journey, trailing through Estonian and Spanish post offices, before I finally collected it at the Denia post point and had it locally framed.

My gaze turns toward the light shining above the flowers.

Begin Your Journey

Follow your soul’s calling—whether it’s faint or banging loud—and begin taking steps toward your inner self.

Empowering solo journeys grow on you, leading you to bold decisions when the time is right.

And before that? It’s a good idea to travel to a friend and vocalize your aspirations.

Sometimes, it’s not the closest ones you say them to first.

Sometimes, it’s the person you’ll spend the rest of your life with—yourself.

Because you, too, deserve happiness.

✨ Book a free discovery chat to explore how to start your journey.

🌿 Travel to meet me or join the October 9–12 retreat in Alicante to look at your life from another angle.

🌿 Want to reconnect with yourself through nature?
Sign up for my newsletter and receive Your Luontopolku Personal Exercise — a guided reflective path back to your senses.
👉 Subscribe here and begin your intentional journey.