Off for the Holidays

Holiday is a loaded word, especially when it comes to travel. Our holiday trips often carry expectations far beyond the journey itself. During the dark months, we dream, plan, compare destinations, make reservations, and wait for that special moment when we can finally close our laptops, lock the front door, and head off toward something we have been longing for.

The Travel Anxiety We Rarely Talk About

Yet when the time finally arrives, beneath the excitement there can also be apprehension.

Will everything work out? What if there is an airline issue? Will we make the connection? Will the weather cooperate? Will the accommodation be what we expected?

Whatever may happen along the way, travel anxiety is often less about the disruption itself and more about the pressure we place on ourselves to keep everything under control. Delays, cancellations, and unexpected changes can trigger stress that was already present before the journey even began.

I have learned that much of our discomfort comes from the belief that a successful holiday depends on everything unfolding exactly as planned.

Taking a Sensory Pause

One practice I use myself is what I call a sensory pause.

Instead of immediately trying to fix the problem or search for solutions, I step outside, take a slow walk, and consciously notice what I can see, hear, smell, and feel. The warmth of the sun on my skin. The sound of distant birds. The scent of rain or pine trees. The feeling of my feet meeting the ground.

More often than not, clarity arrives when I stop fighting the situation.

I also try to focus on what remains within my control rather than what has been lost. This is one of the reasons I love slow travel so deeply. Leaving space between destinations and allowing time for the unexpected creates room not only for practical solutions, but also for experiences that could never have been planned.

What Is Perfect, Anyway?

Many travelers today feel pressure to make every trip perfect. Yet some of the most meaningful experiences emerge from unexpected detours.

Perhaps there is a hidden place you would never have discovered otherwise. Perhaps there is a conversation, a landscape, or a moment of stillness that was quietly waiting for you all along.

Travel is not only a journey across places. It is also an opportunity to notice how we ourselves, and those traveling beside us, respond to uncertainty.

Sometimes the most important question is not:

"Why is this happening?"

But rather:

"What is this moment inviting me to notice?"

These are the real treasures we bring home from our travels. Not the perfect itinerary, but the moments that changed how we saw the world, and ourselves.

If you wish to explore personal travel coaching, read on here.

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.

Happy Valentine’s Day to You

A different kind of love story

It’s a day we may love or hate, celebrate with friends the Finnish way or with someone dear to us.

Over the past year, I’ve often spoken about a love story when sharing my path of leaving and returning with purpose. Not the kind of story we usually expect, but the one that changed everything.

For years, like many of us, I gave and gave. I handled, managed, waited.

Until one day I realised: it was me who had to let something go.

Choosing time

When I took my sabbatical travels, I gave up a lot. Income, yes. Certainty, maybe.

But time? That was priceless.

There was no other way I could have bought the learning, clarity, and courage that came from travelling solo. I needed that time out.

And the love story I found was the most profound one of all: finally choosing myself.

Doing what I had long wished to do.
Investing in my own wellbeing.
Getting a little lost, only to find my way back home, within.

That journey was the best wellness retreat I could ever have given myself.

From travel to transformation

It’s been a year since my sabbatical ended, and so much has changed. Clarity has formed.

Travel gave me new insight, not only about the world, but about ourselves. That curiosity led me deeper into my Travel Coach Network studies.

Once a travel director, I now design experiences that don’t just take you somewhere, they take you deeper into yourself, into place, into culture.

Once a manager and supervisor, I now guide people to pause. To listen inward. Whether travelling far or simply walking a familiar forest trail.

Sometimes we look at ourselves in the same mirror for too long. We swim in the same fishbowl.

But when we step into a new environment or meet someone who truly sees us, our vision clears.

Reshaping life gently

Last year, I gently reshaped my life. Not overnight, not dramatically, but consciously. I built a structure that supports a lifestyle “on a journey every day.”

I started telling my story. Asking for help. Preparing ahead.

And interestingly, when we speak from the heart, the right people appear.

Not everyone needs to change their life completely, move countries, or leave their job.

But everyone deserves more peace. More balance. More small moments of happiness.

Courage looks different for each of us

Sometimes it’s a sabbatical.
Sometimes it’s a mindful morning.
A new hobby.
A quiet weekend trip.
Or simply a gentle pause.

Small acts of self-love, repeated throughout the year.

If you ever feel the call to create space for yourself to reflect, reset, or redesign your path, I’m here to walk alongside you and share what I’ve learned.

We don’t need to carry heavy bags.

Awareness leads to courage.
And courage grows step by step.

With love

Sending love to you this Valentine’s Day.

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.