7 Life Lessons I've Learned From Road Tripping Across Canada Alone

You have to love yourself enough to enjoy your company.

Before leaving on my road trip I admitted to one of my friends that I didn’t know anyone where I was going, and she asked, “Aren’t you afraid that you’ll be bored?”

Of course, I lied. “No, I’ll be fine,” I told her. Truthfully, I was nervous that I would feel alone.

However, after the first week of travel, I surprised myself by realizing how much I enjoyed spending time alone. Driving to my own beat, eating what I wanted, and listening to my favourite music were just a few things that I enjoyed doing by myself.

Trusting your inner genius is a process.

While on this trip, I’ve learned the difference between enjoying my company and trusting myself — and yes, these are two separate things.

I learned to trust myself in the sense that I can fully take care of myself. I’m not talking about feeding myself properly or booking a dentist appointment. No. What I’m talking about is being stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere, stranded on a highway in Nova Scotia, and figuring out a way to get myself out of that situation (yes, this actually happened).

I’m referring to serious labour like shovelling my way out of 50 centimetres of snow in Saint John, New Brunswick. Either way, I realized that when it comes to getting myself out of intense situations in places that are not familiar to me, I can trust myself and my instinct to get myself out of trouble.

Strangers stay strangers unless you talk to them.

It’s been a while since we’ve all had some proper social interactions with our friends or family, let alone strangers, during the past couple of years. Right? Right!

Due to the pandemic, it’s been pretty tough to meet new people with all the social distancing and I became awkward around strangers as a result. However, I had to get over that social anxiety since meeting new people was a big part of my journey.

So I started with an easy one — chatting with bartenders. After I got that down, I began befriending other people I found sitting alone at bars and restaurants. Finally, I made some friends at the Airbnb I was staying at and we ended up eating out together!

I truly feel like I learned a lot from my interactions with all these new people in my life. It gave me a fresh perspective on this solo trip and showed me how easily I can put myself out there.

You must push yourself if you truly want to experience new adventures.

Being stuck at home for so long, it has become hard to be adventurous and not lazy. I had become very used to the routine that I made for myself, which honestly, I wasn’t a fan of. When I started my adventure, I knew that I would have to push myself to be open-minded and curious. It’s not like I didn’t want to, it’s more like I had forgotten how to.

However, I'm proud of how I pushed myself to discover new places, take my time to learn more about the history of the East Coast of Canada, and so much more. I know I still have some tendencies to be sloth-like which is fine, but I'm happy that I rediscovered that adventurous side of myself.

Dining out alone is a great confidence builder.

I always thought that people who ate by themselves or went to bars alone had a sense of confidence that I lacked. Having the confidence to walk into a social place knowing very well you are all by yourself can be overwhelming, but there were a few ways I was able to put this fear aside.

Not everything will go according to plan and that’s OK.

It’s very important to plan out your trip — especially when you are alone. However, because life is life, there will be some unexpected things happening. It’s inevitable.

For example, I had to reroute my trip a bit because of unexpected COVID-19 restrictions in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. I was disappointed, but I was also feeling very grateful that I still had the opportunity to travel and stay a bit longer in Nova Scotia to discover this beautiful province.

Time is truly a gift.

I've always understood the value of time, but it had truly been a while since I made time for myself. I took the time to go out east by myself. I decided to invest time in myself vs. in other people. If I wanted to go explore a part of the city? I made the time for it. Did I want to sit by the ocean and just look at the sea? I made time for it. Did I want to take a longer route to go back to Quebec? I made the choice to take the time to do it.

Time is a gift. I feel like I'm finally choosing to invest time into myself and in what I truly desire to do.

This trip has definitely taught me so much about myself and life so far and I'm having the greatest time while I’m at it. I'm so proud I took on this adventure, and I will forever be grateful for the lessons I’ve learned and will continue learning as a result of it.