written by Stacey Lindsay

"I believe that our travel desires are a catalyst for our spiritual evolution," says Joanne Socha. "We are called to places because there is a lesson, a gift there for us." 

These words capture the texture of Joanne's work as a luxury travel advisor and coach, a role rich in significance. After a long and "satisfying" career as an attorney, Joanne began to sense she had more to offer beyond "divorces and resolution of litigation matters." Travel came winking when a client hired her to help evolve a travel business. Suddenly, a new portal began cracking open for Joanne as she attended industry events around the globe. "I overcame my fear of flying on a flight to Istanbul and never looked back, starting my own business in luxury travel six months later," she says. "I knew this was the channel I was seeking to fulfill part of a promise I made to my mother as she lay dying that I am going to help other people."

Joanne made that quantum leap more than 12 years ago. In the time since, she founded a traveling design firm and a coaching practice. She also authored The Red Bandanna Travel Book: The Medicine of Traveling, in which she shares her theory that exploring the world—both near and far—is more than taking a trip to a new place. It's about facing our fears, realizing our yearnings, and tapping into the inner worlds of ourselves. And it may just be the push we need in the middle third. "I laughingly say that travel is my prescription for everything,” she says, “because it was the catalyst for ushering significant changes into my life."

Chatting with Joanne Socha

Joanne, traveling is many things to you, from a salve to a portal to a form of expression.  How has it evolved in your life?

I fell into the luxury travel industry, but in retrospect, I think I was lured to travel as an antidote and healing balm to navigate a perfect storm of severe anxiety from a shocking childhood accident, divorce, empty nest, and career dissatisfaction. 

Throughout my adulthood, I carried my trauma forward, and it informed some of my choices, some great and some not so wonderful, which led to subsequent challenges. 

The time came when I had no choice but to face my issues. People say that travel is an escape, but I found the opposite to be true. Trips enabled me to embrace my issues while deepening my spirituality and formulating my mission, which is to energize women to expand their borders and fall more deeply in love with their world, all while facing challenges and exploring their spirituality.

The bedrock of my life and business is based upon the prayer of Jabez from The Bible. Jabez asked God to enlarge his territory, be with him, and keep him from harm. I’ve prayed that prayer everyday for ten years, asking for expanded territory, insights, impact, and the ability to love. 

In your work, you often refer to the “medicine of travel.” What is this, and how can it stretch us?

The medicine of travel is about fostering emotional well-being and spiritual growth during times of transition. When we travel, we enter a time capsule into the past or future while remaining present. For example, when we visit ancient sites, we see how people lived and worshiped. 

Our imagination, assisted by ruins or temples, costumes, or stunning museum art, can open a door in our minds and hearts to something we need to see in a different way but couldn’t allow at home. Placing ourselves in another’s world infuses us with learnings so we can expand, share, grow, and embrace change.

Travel can also prepare us for future events, harnessing our vulnerabilities and power to face unseen hurdles.  

Travel requires time and money. How can we still journey if we’re facing scarcity of these elements? 

Depending upon one’s current circumstances and challenges, we can’t always hop on a plane for an exotic trip, nor do we always want to. I think one can take many journeys closer to home without the plane ride.  

I am all about expanding one’s territory a mile at a time; all that is needed is a start and willingness. Spend a day in a neighboring town, or gift yourself a night alone at a nearby city hotel or a bed and breakfast. These tiny steps may inspire grander trips and growth.

Whether we’re afraid, curious, or excited—where can we start to explore the medicine of travel?

Pay attention to certain things. What is on your list? What magazine pictures are you earmarking and why? Do you desire a spiritual pilgrimage? An adventure in the desert? Keep expanding your vision. Put it on a wishlist, read books about the destination, consider the culture, and save articles.  

Lastly, there is a “pre-trip” element to your work, one that helps people face personal obstacles before traveling. Please explain this and why it’s essential.  

The pre-trip journey is a metaphor for effectuating change in one’s life. I wrote about it in my book The Red Bandanna Travel Book: The Medicine of Traveling and subsequently developed a proprietary program called Expand Your Borders to shepherd women through obstacles to taking a desired trip, free from burdens. It’s the very framework I designed to change my life based on a series of self-explorations, questions, and decisions.  

Figuring out why we are lured to a destination and giving ourselves permission to go and receive the lessons, we work through any fears that might come up. The pre-trip affords us insights we may have missed and opens us up to our core spirituality. The happy by-product is hopefully more travel with a bit of magic sprinkled in— because there is always magic when one travels.

Don’t get me wrong—the pre-trip journey doesn’t mean you can completely shed your persona and escape the realities of the issues you face at home. But it shifts the focus away from our sorrows, enabling us to embody the feelings we hope to create on a trip by feeling them sooner.

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To learn more about Joanne and her book and offerings, visit joannesocha.com.

Interview and article by Stacey Lindsay, exclusively for Liberty Road. 

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