I’ve always believed that mindset is everything but honestly, I didn’t really understand just how true that was until life knocked me flat.

Healing isn’t just about “getting better.” It’s messy. It’s not linear. And sometimes, healing means traveling halfway across the world, feeling lost… and somehow finding yourself again.

This is the story of how shifting my mindset, spending time with my family, and following a childhood dream helped me piece myself back together after one of the hardest chapters of my life.

Healing After Brain Injury Through Travel

For a long time, I thought healing meant pushing myself harder. Hustling through the pain. Forcing everything back to “normal” as fast as possible.

Spoiler alert: That didn’t work.

What did help? Slowing down. Spending real time with my family. Laughing with them. Sitting in silence with them. Letting myself be small and vulnerable around the people who have loved me since the very beginning.

There’s something so healing about not having to be anything. Not having to perform or explain yourself. Just existing with people who get you without words.

That’s when it started to hit me: maybe I didn’t have to fix everything overnight. Maybe just being present was enough for right now.

The Dream That Never Left

When I was 13, I became a little bit obsessed okay, a lot obsessed with Copenhagen.

I started learning Danish, reading everything I could about Denmark’s history, culture, and royalty. I remember sitting in my room, headphones on, practicing words and dreaming about walking those colorful cobbled streets someday.

It wasn’t just a passing phase. It felt deep. Like something in my soul was drawn there.

But life happened. School, work, health struggles. Dreams got pushed to the side like they so often do when we’re just trying to survive.

Still, Copenhagen never left my heart. It stayed tucked away, like a quiet promise I made to myself when I was younger.

When the Time Was Finally Right

After everything I had been through the ups, the downs, the brain injury, the days when even thinking hurt something inside me whispered, “Go.”

It wasn’t logical. It wasn’t part of some master plan. But it was right.

So I booked the trip. I packed my bags. I stepped onto that plane with a heart that felt heavier and lighter all at once.

And the second I arrived…
Something clicked.

It’s hard to put into words, but I’ll try. Imagine feeling like you’ve been a stranger in your own life for months, maybe years. And then suddenly, you’re standing in a place you’ve never been before, and somehow you feel like you’re home.

That was Copenhagen for me.

More Than Just a City

It wasn’t just the beauty of the place, although Copenhagen is stupidly beautiful.
It was the feeling. Like my soul recognized it. Like the universe was softly saying, “See? You were never lost. You were just finding your way here.”

I wandered Nyhavn’s colorful harbor, and the tears just came. No shame, no holding back.
I walked through palaces I had only ever seen in books, my chest tight with awe and gratitude.
I spoke Danish not perfectly, but enough to connect and every conversation felt like a tiny miracle.

Everywhere I went, I carried my younger self with me. The 13-year-old girl who had dared to dream of this place when she had no idea what her future would look like.
I wanted to hug her. I wanted to tell her: We made it. We’re okay.

Mindset: The Real Magic

Looking back now, the magic wasn’t just Copenhagen (even though Copenhagen is pretty magical).

The real magic was the mindset shift that happened in me.

I stopped waiting for life to be perfect before allowing myself to feel joy.
I stopped believing healing had to look a certain way.
I gave myself permission to chase what lit me up, even if it didn’t “make sense” to anyone else.

Choosing joy before things were perfect was a radical act of self-love.

Trusting the pull toward places and people that felt like home — even when my brain told me I should stay safe and small that was the start of everything changing.

What Copenhagen Taught Me About Healing

Here’s the thing: healing isn’t a destination. It’s not a finish line you cross one day and never look back.

It’s a million small choices to believe in hope. To believe in beauty. To believe in yourself.

Travel didn’t “fix” me. But it woke something up inside me that I thought I had lost.

It reminded me that even after brain injury, even after heartbreak, even after feeling like a stranger in my own life I could still feel wonder. I could still dream. I could still begin again.

And maybe that’s what healing really is: beginning again, over and over, with as much love and courage as you can muster.

Final Thoughts

I didn’t just come back from Copenhagen with souvenirs and photos (although I definitely took way too many).
I came back with a heart cracked wide open.
I came back with a reminder that my dreams matter. That my healing journey is mine alone. And that sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is simply follow the quiet tug of your own soul even if no one else understands it.

If you’re reading this right now and you feel lost, stuck, or broken — I just want you to know:
You’re not alone.
Your dreams aren’t silly.
And healing? It’s still possible, even if it doesn’t look the way you thought it would.

Trust your journey. Trust your heart. And if your soul is calling you somewhere maybe it’s time to go.

Remember, it all starts with self love

-M