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The Confidence Creator
- Ashtyn Larsen
- Nov 25
- 3 min read
Maybe she's born with it… Maybe it's solo travel?
Confidence is a funny thing. Like happiness, you can't buy it; it's a pain to fake, and at times in our lives, it's nowhere to be found. At one point, it was viewed as our parents’ job to build up our confidence. It started when we took our first steps, said our first words, drove a car for the first time, and went on our first date. They pushed us to try new things and learn new skills.
We weren’t offered an “AP Confidence” class in high school. But every day, we were challenged to learn new things, navigate unexplored environments, and adhere to specific standards and deadlines. As we grow, building confidence is in our own hands. Just as we did when we were younger, we must put ourselves in situations to build confidence.
Confidence isn't just thrust upon us. It’s built, one plane ticket at a time.
Confidence isn't built in situations where you know precisely what you are doing; it’s built when you have no idea what you're doing and choose to trust yourself anyway. That’s why travel is the best confidence creator.
It requires navigation, communication, and adaptation to the environment. When you travel, it’s not a matter of if something is going to go wrong. It’s a matter of when.
Solo travel raises the stakes. The uncertainty of the situation can be scary; you no longer have the comfort of having someone help with problem-solving or ask for directions. It’s all on you. You have to navigate, communicate, and adapt in every situation. The whole situation reeks of uncertainty, making us feel fearful and unsafe. As humans, we are wired to survive and to avoid these situations. The fear of failure — the uncertain outcome — can be debilitating, and it’s the most pervasive fear we face.
Confidence isn’t about inherently knowing what to do. It’s trusting you’ll figure it out.
We are not always going to succeed immediately when we try something for the first time. In fact, we’ll often fail. You could miss the right train stop 20 times, but that 21st time, you get it right, and the only thing that is left is the confidence that you can do it again. This is called the confidence-compentence loop. This loop is “A psychological concept where competence builds confidence, which in turn fuels more action and further builds competence.” The more we take action, the more competence we build, which then fuels our confidence to take more action.
Booking your dream solo trip to another country is the goal; these are the steps to get there.
Aligned Actions to build confidence
Start by doing everyday activities alone. Coffee shop hangs, lunch at a sit-down restaurant, and that movie that you want to see.
Take a solo day trip to a new town nearby, visit an art museum, or check out that market you keep seeing on your Instagram, but haven't gone to because your friends are too busy.
Sign up for a retreat! Booking a group trip is the perfect step to start building confidence for a full-fledged solo trip. You have to fly alone to the destination and get yourself home, but the middle part is taken care of. You’ll have people exploring the new place with you, and you aren't in charge of the day-to-day, but you are meeting new people and putting yourself in new situations.
The more you successfully navigate uncertainty, even small things, like figuring out public transit or finding a meal when everything’s in another language, the more you learn that you can handle things.
That’s the creation of confidence.
Astrocartography Insight
There are two benefic planets in astrology, Venus and Jupiter. These lines amplify what’s already within you: your natural magnetism, your boldness, your belief in yourself. Traveling or living under these energies invites you to step into bigger visions, fuller expression, and the version of you that’s ready to take up space.
These are broad planetary themes. To understand how they personally activate for you, and which locations hold your unique growth or ease, we’d look directly at your natal chart and its aspects.
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