- [Shayla] People are interested in travel.
And so, what do I do if I'm not traveling?
Who am I if I'm not a traveler?
What do I do? What am I interested in?
What do I, what do I like move forward with?
It's just so bizarre.
I don't why this is making me cry.
This video isn't as upbeat as it normally is,
but I just, I just had to talk. Real talk.
Hey guys, my name is Shayla and
I make these videos every Wednesday.
I've been been traveling and YouTubing full time since 2015.
If this is your first time here, welcome.
If you like travel or adventure or just like doing things.
Please subscribe and if you're interested,
my Instagram is living on a one way.
I do stories like.. all the time.
I am back in Minnesota and this video has been
extremely difficult to film because I'm not exactly sure
what I want to say about it.
I've been traveling full time and now I'm not
traveling as much. And it's been a major identity crisis.
And if this video sounds boring to you,
just go ahead and skip. But if you're like, yeah
I just came home from a long trip travel and you feel
like you can relate, tell me I'm not alone in the comments.
The identity crisis is coming from being a
full time traveler and video maker
about my adventures out in the world.
Now, I'm in one spot and I'm struggling
to figure out what to do here.
I've created this channel.
People are interested in travel.
And so, what do I do if I'm not traveling.
And I've gotten some messages, like, we don't care.
We are just following the journey.
But I'm like, it's just, I don't even know what to say.
It's difficult.
Who am I if I'm not a traveler? What do I do?
What am I interested in?
It's harder for me to be in one spot
than it is to move around
because I have things like rent.
In other countries, rent's a lot cheaper.
My car just broke, so now do I buy a cheap car
so that it's paid off. It makes me feel like the heaviest
ball and chain of just like, zero freedom, but also not
having a vehicle is like, cabin fever in this house.
So, I'm going to tell you a couple things about
how I've been. What I've been up to, basically
keep all of these feelings away.
But first, I want to describe to you
what travel is like for me.
It's about being whatever version of yourself you want.
There's not someone sitting there, going
that doesn't really seem like you.
If someone's like, hey, do you want to go cliff jumping?
And you would never do that at home, I'd be like,
Yeah, let's go. Let's give it a try.
And you just get to like, experiment with who you are
and who you want to be. And you just get to be whoever
you want. And it's not about being inauthentic or fake.
I feel like it's about being the truest version of yourself
where you are like open to everything.
You can just like meet anybody.
You could talk to somebody on the bus.
You could to somebody in line.
It's not weird, 'cuz people are interested in
why are you here? How long are you traveling for?
And they want to know your story and you want to know theirs
But like everybody has a story, but not everybody's
so open to sharing it as when they are traveling
so then, you come home and now you've got friends
all over the world but none where you are and it's
And not none. I definitely have friends here that I go
hang out with and talk to and it's great.
Also, what I love is that my norms are challenged.
The things that have always been THIS way,
of course. My whole life, are like done
completely different somewhere else.
Or like, my norms, they're like.. "You do what?!"
And to have your mind just explode over and over again.
This is like a very elementary example, but I remember being
in Puerto Rico and I don't if this is all Puerto Rico
or if this is just the family.
Cut an orange in half and then just handed it to me.
This orange is not peeled. I don't have a spoon.
Like, how am I supposed to eat this half orange?
And so, I had to wait a second and watch everyone else
eat it and they just dug in with their teeth.
The end result of consuming an orange was accomplished
but the means was completely something I've never seen.
Like I said, that's a weird example,
but that's the one I could think of.
When you, when you like come back from traveling abroad
there's a sense of guilt and gratitude.
When I was working with the refugees in Greece
I was looking at these two year olds
like they were my nephew, and I was like
these kids have been through so much
and my nephew's at home and he gets to like
enjoy a bed that he doesn't have to worry about
bombs exploding outside
I don't why this is making me cry.
I come home from a place where that doesn't have
good plumbing and am like completely grateful
that I get to throw the toilet paper in the toilet
and it just flushes.
Or I see all this waste that's everywhere
and I get frustrated when people don't recycle or
I get frustrated with myself because I don't know how
to recycle because I didn't really grow up with that.
And so, like that's okay, as long I learn how to do it.
So you definitely have like guilt
and gratitude at the same time
and it's a very conflicting feeling, I guess.
I wanted to sit down and figure out, why do I travel?
What are the reasons that I travel?
To see if I could replicate that
just in everyday life.
There are three reasons why I travel.
It is to make new connections with people.
I've been on trips where I know everybody and
I've been on trips where I know nobody.
Those trips for me are where the growth happens
I learn how to make to friends and make conversation
and learn about other people and what they do.
And I thrive on the new connections.
The way that I integrate this is
talking to strangers in the coffee line or the barista
because they're always open to a good chat.
Someone invites me to do something that
I've never done before.
I want to say yes and this is something I'm realizing
that I don't make enough time for.
When I get asked to go do things in real life, which is what
I need. I'm like, I don't have time for that.
Just taking short trips
I don't need to travel for two months
I can take a week or two week trip and
like feel very satisfied.
I travel to learn. To learn new ways to do things.
To learn new ways to see things. To learn everything.
I'm taking courses.
I'm going to in-person workshops to meet people.
I'm going to a conference this week in California.
Reading more books, listening to audiobooks.
Trying to soak up as much stuff as I can.
If I'm just here and I'm just working and I'm
just doing what I know and what's comfortable
I don't learn very much.
Lastly, to share. So obviously, I've been sharing
all of this on YouTube for the past three and a half years.
So, I started a second YouTube channel and I'm coaching
people on how to grow their business, how to grow
their social media. Consulting and coaching people.
Seth said something interesting. He said
before you were comfortable in your boundaries and then
after, they are what is confining and that is, that's it.
You have your, your boundaries that you're comfortable in.
You leave, you grow, you learn new things, you experiment
You like come back with this sense of independence
and pride and freedom and then you go back to those
boundaries and you're like, whoa.
Things are getting a little tight around here.
I'm excited to start coaching people and consulting
businesses and helping them hone in on their message
and how to deliver it the best way.
That's kind of where my next adventure is bringing me,
but I'm still going to keep this channel so that I can
just share fun things because I also feel like
because I've been off traveling, I didn't learn
how to curl my hair and I didn't learn how to clothe myself.
I don't know, when you're traveling, you live so minimally
and you're like, that's not going to fit in my backpack.
I'm not buying it.
You're so limited to the space, that you just make do
with what you have and if you show up kind of like
inappropriately dressed, it's like,
well, I live out of a suitcase.
Now, it's like, all right, I need to learn how to adult.
I literally don't know how to go to the doctor.
I hope that you guys are okay with following
this journey as it unfolds
and also like taking you along for the trips that I go on.
It's not like they're going to stop.
If you're going through this, I would love to hear
how you're dealing
Thank you all so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video, please give it a like
and please comment with anything.
Anything that you want to share.
Anything that you can relate on.
Anything.
You can check out my Instagram, @livingonaoneway
and if you're interested in the new channel,
it's Hey Shayla.
And if you're interested in coaching, send me an email.
This video wasn't as upbeat as it normally is but I just
I just had to talk. Just real talk.
Thank you all so much for watching.
I will see you next Wednesday.
So I just got home
and I see Amber outside and she waves to me.
And I realize that she shut the door and it locked on her.
If you don't instagram when you work out
do you even work out?
Better (Shayla laughing off camera)
And um, oh my God. (Shayla laughing)