lives. I had focused on crime, scandal, war. But suppose a person needed to know how to restore her spirit, or recover her energy, or develop a more positive outlook on life? And that’s when my idea of Travel Therapy was born.”
Karen had given herself a new assignment. She would build a Travel Therapy Trips website and write a book that would help people inspire and empower themselves through travel.
It wasn’t easy to make the transition. Karen’s finances had taken a hit when she quit, but she felt she needed to take the plunge. “After I built the website, I sold my car and cashed in my 401k,” she says. “Then I bought a one-way plane ticket and took a one-year lease on an apartment in New York City, where I knew almost no one. That’s where I wrote my book, Travel Therapy: Where Do You Need to Go? , featuring trips to take based on whatever you’re going through in life.”
Using her skills as a reporter and a communicator, Karen tells her website audience about spas, resorts, beaches, and other destinations and activities.
“I’m not literally a therapist,” she says, “and the closest I get to writing a prescription is when I say ‘Take two vacations and call me in the morning.’ ”
What separates Karen from other travel reporters is that, while she’s writing about adventure trips, family vacations, or romantic excursions, she maintains her focus on the things that help restore and maintain peace of mind.
And just as her audience is on a journey—both inward and outward—so, too, is Karen. “I’m different now,” she says. “I make sure that I have more balance in my life. The truth is, to be good at my job, I had to become numb to the horrors I was covering. But the problem with going numb is that you can’t decide when to turn it on and off. I found that I had become numb in my personal life, too.
“I want to feel joy, to experience beauty, to be in touch with my spirit. You know you’re doing the right thing in the right place if it gives you the courage to go forward. I can’t wait to see what’s around the next corner.”
PART FOUR
Body Works
“There wasn’t anything even remotely appropriate to try on. . . . It made me feel so bad about myself.”
Perfectly Suited
Robina Oliver, 53
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
“M y butt looks huge!”
“My thighs are so jiggly!”
“My boobs need a lift!”
Every day, Robina Oliver listens to women put down their bodies as they stare into the mirrors of her swimsuit shop. “It’s really difficult to hear,” she says, “because that used to be me.”
Rewind to 2003. A size 16 Robina was vacationing with her husband in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, browsing for a new swimsuit. Each one she pulled off the rack was skimpier than the last. A string bikini? Get serious. A one-piece with cutouts on the sides? Like that’s gonna hide love handles. A crocheted thong bottom? Not on your life.
“There wasn’t anything even remotely appropriate to try on,” she says. “It started to get really depressing. It made me feel so bad about myself—even worse than I normally did.”
Robina had struggled with weight her whole life. “I’ve always been big,” she says. Growing up in Connecticut, she had a tumultuous home life. Her parents divorced when she was two, her dad moved to the Cayman Islands when she was nine, and her mom remarried, had two sons, then divorced again when Robina was 15. Robina sought comfort in eating. She’d binge on bologna, mayo, and white bread sandwiches, eating one, then another, then another. “It was a way to fill the void,” she says. “Then, after food, I turned to other things.”
Namely, men. “I was always looking for male approval and attention,” she says. “If they liked me, that was enough, even if they were jerks. I was using them to escape.”
At age 19, Robina wound up in Austin, Texas, following a guy she’d met while waiting tables back home. Soon after, she found out she was
Karen had given herself a new assignment. She would build a Travel Therapy Trips website and write a book that would help people inspire and empower themselves through travel.
It wasn’t easy to make the transition. Karen’s finances had taken a hit when she quit, but she felt she needed to take the plunge. “After I built the website, I sold my car and cashed in my 401k,” she says. “Then I bought a one-way plane ticket and took a one-year lease on an apartment in New York City, where I knew almost no one. That’s where I wrote my book, Travel Therapy: Where Do You Need to Go? , featuring trips to take based on whatever you’re going through in life.”
Using her skills as a reporter and a communicator, Karen tells her website audience about spas, resorts, beaches, and other destinations and activities.
“I’m not literally a therapist,” she says, “and the closest I get to writing a prescription is when I say ‘Take two vacations and call me in the morning.’ ”
What separates Karen from other travel reporters is that, while she’s writing about adventure trips, family vacations, or romantic excursions, she maintains her focus on the things that help restore and maintain peace of mind.
And just as her audience is on a journey—both inward and outward—so, too, is Karen. “I’m different now,” she says. “I make sure that I have more balance in my life. The truth is, to be good at my job, I had to become numb to the horrors I was covering. But the problem with going numb is that you can’t decide when to turn it on and off. I found that I had become numb in my personal life, too.
“I want to feel joy, to experience beauty, to be in touch with my spirit. You know you’re doing the right thing in the right place if it gives you the courage to go forward. I can’t wait to see what’s around the next corner.”
PART FOUR
Body Works
“There wasn’t anything even remotely appropriate to try on. . . . It made me feel so bad about myself.”
Perfectly Suited
Robina Oliver, 53
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
“M y butt looks huge!”
“My thighs are so jiggly!”
“My boobs need a lift!”
Every day, Robina Oliver listens to women put down their bodies as they stare into the mirrors of her swimsuit shop. “It’s really difficult to hear,” she says, “because that used to be me.”
Rewind to 2003. A size 16 Robina was vacationing with her husband in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, browsing for a new swimsuit. Each one she pulled off the rack was skimpier than the last. A string bikini? Get serious. A one-piece with cutouts on the sides? Like that’s gonna hide love handles. A crocheted thong bottom? Not on your life.
“There wasn’t anything even remotely appropriate to try on,” she says. “It started to get really depressing. It made me feel so bad about myself—even worse than I normally did.”
Robina had struggled with weight her whole life. “I’ve always been big,” she says. Growing up in Connecticut, she had a tumultuous home life. Her parents divorced when she was two, her dad moved to the Cayman Islands when she was nine, and her mom remarried, had two sons, then divorced again when Robina was 15. Robina sought comfort in eating. She’d binge on bologna, mayo, and white bread sandwiches, eating one, then another, then another. “It was a way to fill the void,” she says. “Then, after food, I turned to other things.”
Namely, men. “I was always looking for male approval and attention,” she says. “If they liked me, that was enough, even if they were jerks. I was using them to escape.”
At age 19, Robina wound up in Austin, Texas, following a guy she’d met while waiting tables back home. Soon after, she found out she was
Similar Books
