give yourself an unattainable goal that will be fun every step of the way

The ideal goal will gently push you out of your comfort zone, build confidence in yourself as a solo entity, be a little bit scary, but a lot a bit fun. Has to be something you can do by yourself. Can optionally include friends. It doesn’t matter if you complete the goal in the end. That’s oddly enough not the point!

For me, after a five year relationship over 10 years ago, I made it a goal to hike in every Texas state park. I lived in Austin at the time, so I started with the state parks closest to me. Then I started branching out. An hour drive outside of town with my little dog. Then a few hours. Then a camping trip. I learned how to be confident in myself: that I could find ways to have fun by myself, that I could fuel my own senses, trust myself to stick to a plan for myself and didn’t need anyone else to have a great time.

Texas is huge, and I made it to 1/3rd of the parks! I saw mountains and fall foliage and swam in rivers and put my feet into dinosaur footprints and went to cute towns and parts of the state I wouldn’t have otherwise. I always loved nature but I didn’t grow up doing outdoorsy things—that was new for me.

I don’t regret a single minute of the time I spent toward this goal!!!!

Pictured: my sweet Oskee dog who lived to be 19 years old and just passed last November.