First and foremost, a special huge mighty immeasurable thank you to Sole Yoga Holidays for inviting me on this incredible journey that turned out to be not only the most incredible wellness retreat ever (just wait until that article), but also a travel experience that changed it all. I’m so excited to share more about the retreat, the incredible inspiring woman behind it and give my readers another adventure to put on their bucket lists – all coming very soon to Modern Jetsetter.

Confession: I’m a high maintenance woman. I have no shame in this, it’s not secret among my friends and family (who lovingly and gently remind me when I go into my slew of habitual demands) and it’s a fact I accepted long ago…

In addition to this, I consider myself spoiled, needy, materialistic, controlling and impossible to satisfy. Sure, my empathy and love for people may outweigh this but this is the reality of my persona… and chances are, your own suffers from the same ailments (even if you don’t realize it yet).

Growing up and primarily staying in western cultures my entire life, I’m surrounded daily by crutches of convenience and luxuries that allow me to get through life being this way. Being an only child growing up and being blessed with family who dotted on me every stage of my life and having a husband who does just the same, these attributes are rooted deep into my personality and are admittedly parts of me which I have to proactively manage in travel situations, which remarkably, are the moments in life where these characteristics effortlessly take a backseat to the importance of the journey. Perhaps this is one of the reasons my soul needs travel so much. But the moment I return home, I fall into the routine of being just as consumed by daily life and the requirements I have (from my iced latte in the AM, Uber, matching lingerie and a good Bikram yoga class).

I now realize I simply wasn’t traveling deep enough to even begin to mentally step away from these daily luxuries.

Then Africa happened.

Upon getting off the plane and walking into the run down airport in Zanzibar…I experienced my first real culture shock. No, not “they eat so much meat here in Germany I can’t even…” or “wow, this language is hard to learn” culture shock, but the bipolar environmental differences between a first world and a developing one. It was as if I were hand-plucked from the warm comforts of convenience and the calm waters of western culture and thrown into the deep end of a seemingly never-ending ice bath of primitive life. I was experiencing myself as a spoiled brat. The sweltering ride from the airport was one of me hysterically applying mosquito repellent (because malaria and hypchondria) and obsessively pondering the species of fly (Tsetse or not) trapped in the car until the driver examined me (with clearly no faith in my mental stability) and casually picked it up with his fingers and released it back into the wild…

I was erroneously questioning how people can live like this every day…while on the transverse, I should have been questioning why I live the way I do every day.

My first impression of Africa was so inaccurate and, given the depth of love my heart now holds for Africa, now completely offensive to me and my values. What happened in those first several hours in Africa was a rapid, necessary, overdue detox from the western world. It surprised me, it shocked me, it balanced me. The truth is, visiting Africa is the most important travel experience anyone can gift their soul with. The whole world is trying to find cures for the ills of this continent , but we often overlook the ways Africa can cure us. It rips out all the worries, anxiety, stress and superfluous needs that you carry with you in your heart daily, mercilessly turns you inside out and shows you that these needless society-induced handicaps have no place in a happy existence.

From the first hour to the golden last, Africa changed my life. It showed me an authentic way of living that made me a better human. It showed me the depths and merit of my values, and the needless roadblocks I constructed thought-by-thought between me and my goals. This trip ignited a lifelong affair with Africa, one that I’ll explore and feed for what I’m sure is the rest of my life. In the meantime, I want to share a few of the lessons I learned from African culture and the incredible souls that give it life:

(When I refer to Africa in this article, it is in reference to Eastern Africa, in particular Tanzania. I haven’t yet had the privilege to explore the lifestyle of the southern, northern or western areas of the continent, which I’m positive are rich with differences, culture and inspiring ways of life)

It’s the most honest mirror you’ll ever look into

We often look into the mirror daily to make sure our look is on point, note physical room for improvement, apply makeup or critically seek blemishes. Looking into the raw and candid mirror of Africa is like looking at the person you are meant to be if we didn’t have the worries that come with hustling in our regular western environments. It ruthlessly illuminates your strengths, self-inflicted weaknesses and starkly reminds you that your problems aren’t nearly as bad as you make them. Forget anxiety, stress, and not having enough time to work out…if you’ve never known hunger, you are a rich rich man.

You see how the majority of the world lives, and you’ll never live the same way again

We do so many things daily without realizing how precious the resources that we use are. In Africa, safe drinking water isn’t a given and electricity is shared, so if you have too much…that means less for others. I experienced countless lapses in wifi access and I felt the depth of my addiction and the unnatural withdrawals to being “connected”…which I now understand is the translation for being disconnected from your present moment. In the western world we are often so consumed into our own bubble that the concept of coexistence isn’t one we have, neither is the gratitude of being able to eat and drink without fear of illness. I am already tremendously more conscious of how much water I use and am astounded by how long I lived my life without once saying “thank you” for safe water, heat, air conditioning, infrastructure and access to healthcare – no matter how expensive it is.

You see that the majority of our problems are caused by ourselves

I have several transitions at play in my life and before my trip, the anxiety was certainly getting the best of me. Witnessing how little certainty and stability people in Africa need to be happy and calm, even though they never tasted the amount of comfort you have, humbled me to my core. I realize that the majority (if not all) my worries were fed by myself. All the doubts or questions I had in myself, are baseless, needless and preventable by choosing to carry calm confidence with you in every moment of life – a talent the Africans have and is encapsulated in one of their most famous phrases: Hakuna Matata.

You experience people who aren’t spoiled by convenience and the need for things

My neediness and high-maintenance ways were laughed at hysterically by Africa. Seriously, the continent just pointed, laughed and said “you should have left those behind.” While the shock was certainly there at first, being able to experience myself, my thoughts and my daily life without those “needs” brought me so much more in touch with who I am, where I am going and the woman I want to be.

You witness a peaceful coexistence between man and nature, and it betters you

Perhaps the most famous aspect of Africa travel is it being the heart of the animal kingdom. While I wasn’t able to embark on a safari this trip (this will be happening ASAP, though), I did witness the incredible relationship locals have with animals. I did wake up at 5AM every day, walk to the beach and watch sunrise with a herd of cattle that take romantic sunrise walks – which according to a local, is pure pleasure. There is such an inherit and tangible respect between the people and nature. From fresh coconuts to the milk from a cow, they respect that relationship and nurture it through preservation, kindness and living as gently as possible.

One more because I can’t help myself: People are uninhibited

Prejudice, fear and emotional distance are not what the people of Africa represent. They are so extraordinarily and naturally open, warm, kind, helpful…and above all, loving. One of the moments that I’ll remember for the rest of my life is when a small group of local children were outside our resort. They wanted to play with us (stranger danger isn’t a thing here) and when we went to oblige, one of the girls put her arms around me and hugged me. I then felt my entire relationship with humans change. Everything that prevented me from loving people without restraint melted away. She treated me with the same amount of love I’m sure she gives to her own family. I never felt so connected with mankind and the way we are meant to treat each other than in that moment. It was overwhelming, and it shattered my old heart and rebuilt it into a bigger and more open one in the fraction of a moment.

That’s Africa.

I’m still me and I’m still high-maintenance and likely always will be (because let’s be real). I am now, however, accompanied by golden memories of Africa that will trail me in every moment of life to ensure I am acting always in gratitude. My souvenir was another dimension to myself, a deep current of calm and an immeasurably valuable awareness of how to live my life and all my dreams to the fullest…and never let my needs outweigh my need to give back.

I’ll never travel the same way again, and I certainly won’t treasure any other place like Africa. It opened my heart’s capacity for empathy and understanding in a boundless way I didn’t know possible.

I’m thrilled to continue this vibrant affair on the next trip…and allow the spirit of Africa to seep deeper into my soul and change my life recklessly as it already did so very well.