This is the story of how I overcame one of the biggest challenges of my life, which was to travel on my own for the first time without my family in a hotel with my friends and teachers. This was a big deal for me because I live with Dyspraxia, a developmental coordination disorder that affects movement.

Since I’m dyspraxic, I had never packed on my own before, because I was scared. However I had to this time, and I realized that some dyspraxic people suffer with “organizing” skills and with packing, you need organizing skills. I remember the bag just would not close because of how messy it was. I felt like giving up. 

But then I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, listened to some music, did some light stretching, and then it just hit me. I manage to pack neatly and now when I always travel, I will pack this way. I would pack and take pictures of the things in my bag. This way when I check out, I can make sure I don’t miss packing anything.

During the trip, I also faced some challenges. Dyspraxia has made me feel like the “weird kid” so I did not have many friends. Still, I decided to carry on with the trip, hoping it would change their perception of me. Unfortunately, they left me out. My own roommate left me and decided to sleep in the other friend’s room. I felt so hurt because in class, she would get along well with me. They also excluded me from hanging out and going out to eat together, and did not include me the entire trip.

What saddened me most is when my parents called, I said I was having the best time when deep down I really wasn’t but I could not pull myself to tell them the truth, because I don’t want them to worry about me. 

There were many important lessons I was able to take from the trip, the first being, if you put in effort and you believe in yourself, you can do it. I put in the effort to take care of myself, and I made sure to remind myself that I could do this. The second most important lesson I learned was, don’t care about what others think. I cared a lot about the perception of my friends and how to win them over, and each time I failed to do so, I would feel so bad about myself, but after a few times, I realized they weren’t going to let me in their circle, and by moving forward, I managed to actually enjoy the trip. I overcame the lonely feeling by reminding myself, “Hey, I came for this trip to prove everyone wrong and to prove to myself I could do this.” And I did. 

Lastly, this whole solo trip experience taught me to learn how to love my own company. So, to those who live with the same condition and think you can’t enjoy trips and experiences, I’m here to remind you, YOU GOT THIS.