Call me crazy, but honestly — there are moments on the road, and in life, when you just know you’re being guided.

Not something like a perfectly timed shooting star… though that sounds pretty cool... but by something quieter. More subtle. It could be in the form of a symbol, a stranger. An inner voice, an inner awareness. All are there to direct you on your path.

Midlife has a way of making you more aware of these moments.

And looking back now, I can see that many signs were always there —
I just didn’t know how to listen.

From Dismissal to Listening

When I was younger, I often questioned my intuition.
I dismissed those inner nudges, thinking I needed proof or logic.
We’re taught to value facts — not feelings.

But some of the most important guidance I’ve ever received came quietly from within.

And in midlife, I’ve finally begun to slow down enough to hear it.
To pause. To notice. To give space to the messages arriving — sometimes through my body, sometimes through beauty, sometimes through symbols I don’t yet fully understand.

I still miss the signs sometimes — but listening inward is a skill worth nurturing.
It’s quiet, but powerful.

And on my recent trip to Morocco, those signs came often — and they came gently.

Full-Circle Moments & Unexpected Gifts

After climbing a waterfall in the Ourika Valley, I sat down by a river to cool off — looking like a complete tomato. My feet dangled in the stream as tourists, locals, and bottle-flipping children buzzed around us.

A small boy selling jewellery suddenly appeared beside me.
My instinct was to say, “No thank you,” but he kept repeating something softly — “cadeau.” Gift.

And then he skipped away.

I looked down.
In my hand was a bracelet of simple, bright beads… with butterflies.

If you’ve followed me or read anything I’ve written, you know the butterfly holds great symbolic meaning for me and for us women in midlife.
In that moment, a wave of knowing washed over me — I was exactly where I was meant to be. I really cannot describe the powerful feeling of joy, which filled me and made me cry a few tears of absolute happiness.

Another moment came in Aït Benhaddou — a thousand-year-old clay kasbah rising out of the desert heat. I arrived early. The little shops were still being set up. As I walked by one, a necklace caught my eye.

I recognised it.

It was almost identical to a symbol from a necklace I’d been given 25 years ago in Japan. I never knew what it meant I had just appreciated it, and I had kept it, never worn.
And now, here it was again. In the middle of the Moroccan mountains. Hanging above my hotel bed the night before.

The man told me it was an ancient Berber symbol. Full of meaning, of traditions, a compass. It represented belonging. A sign that you are in the right place.

And then there in the middle of Morocco after seeing a symbol of my life in Japan, something surreal happened. I found myself speaking Japanese to a small group of tourists who had appeared out of nowhere! The connection didn’t hit me until later. It was so incredibly crazy and odd and amazing that I was dumbfounded.

A past self, returning through symbols, through speech, through memory.
A reminder that nothing meaningful is ever truly lost.

These weren’t just souvenirs of my journey in Morocco.
They were much more significant to me, deeply symbolic.
Messages from the universe, reminding, encouraging and asserting to me ‘You’re on the right path. Keep going’.

The Compass Moments I Didn’t Understand Until Later

This kind of inner trust hasn’t always come easily.
Looking back over nearly two years of travel and time away from home, I see how many moments placed me in the right place at the right time. Sometimes I was aware, sometimes not, but often it has come to me slowly after the event.

These symbols, fortuitous events, intuitions on my journey have shaped it and me.

The couple in Southern India who took care of me in a tiny guesthouse I found randomly.
The voice that said, “Stay here,” even when I had no plan to.
Or in Langkawi, Malaysia, when something in me insisted I go to Borneo. Which turned out to be one of the most magical places on that trip.

And then there were the no’s that mattered:

• Getting out of a taxi in Mumbai because something didn’t feel right.
• Smiling and walking away from a market seller with no explanation.
• Leaving places when my body whispered, “Not this, not for me. Time to go.”

Over time, I’ve collected physical symbols too.
Like the green necklace I bought nearly a decade ago — a piece I fell in love with the moment I touched it.
Green is the colour of the heart chakra — the energy of love and self-love. I’ve worn it ever since as a reminder: love begins within.

And the Shiva pendant I bought in Varanasi, India just before the pandemic.

Shiva — the god of destruction and rebirth.
Even then, something in me knew, that an old life was ending, and a new one was calling.

Shiva hung from my rearview mirror. A quiet companion. A reminder that even when it all feels crazy, we are actually in the process of change, rebirth and transformation. That something new is always trying to emerge.

It was there with this symbol of change that I had decided I have 450 days left and I was going to pack up my life and travel. A new Midlife chapter.

I’ve had strangers appear at the perfect time.
I’ve stood on train platforms in Goa at sunrise, perfectly still.
Done yoga under cherry blossoms.
Watched an orangutan swinging silently above me in the Borneo jungle.

And I’ve learned:

You don’t always need to understand the moment when you’re in it.
You just need to trust the moment is leading somewhere true.

Trusting the Inner Voice

Travel has taught me to trust the quiet guidance. Midlife has slowed me down to become more aware of it. To see the signs, to feel and acknowledge the intuitions.

Like the night I changed hotels at 9pm, walking down a dusty Moroccan road in the dark.
I was overstimulated. Overheated.
Old me would’ve talked myself out of it, called myself dramatic or too sensitive.

But now?

I trust her, the woman inside who knows.
Because that voice doesn’t just protect us.
It reconnects us.

We come home to ourselves when we really listen.

What I’m Learning

I’ve spent years trying to do what’s 'right.'  Who decides what “right” even is?

In midlife, we finally stop performing certainty.
We start creating space. We start listening again. We start to feel into what's right for us now.

And I’m realising this -

These feelings, signs and symbols are our compass.
You don’t need the full map.
You just need to feel when it’s time to turn and change course.

And If You’re Here Too…

If you’re walking through a time where the old maps no longer work — I see you.
I know you.
Because I am you — just a little further down the trail. Still figuring it out. But no longer afraid.

Midlife does that. Travel gives us space to pause, and to begin embodying our inner Midlife butterfly.
It breaks down what we thought we knew.
But in the cracks, something real and radiant starts to rise.

You are allowed to trust your inner voice.
You are allowed to choose what feels right, even if it doesn’t make sense to others.
You are allowed to believe that life is guiding you, even if you don’t have the full picture yet.

Because you’re not lost.

You’re just learning how to listen.

Want to start trusting your own inner compass?
Download the free Midlife Dream Map — a soulful guide to help you reconnect and begin again.
👉 Click here for your Midlife Dream Map to start your journey

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