It's not uncommon for people to ask why I'm not traveling with anyone else or why I didn't wait for a partner with whom to travel. I think some people are simply stupefied by a woman traversing the big, scary, unsafe world all alone because society says we're supposed to play the part of passive damsels in distress. I think many people succumb to the toxic fairytale that, without partnered love, you can't build a life (or that white picket fence). And then there are many others who just doubt their own capabilities. Finally, there are those who say they'd be lonely. Regardless, they all tend to push their own anxieties and apprehensions on me.