Pope Francis, Travel Ego, and Feeling Lost in 2025
Welcome to the first entry of 500Daysof Natalie on Substack — a travel journal, a spiritual check-in, and a reminder that there’s always more to explore (in the world and in ourselves). Thanks for being here! 🫶🌀 ✈️
Lessons from a spiritual traveler for when you don’t know what’s next.
“Travel like a pilgrim, not a tourist.”
Last night, I read an article about Pope Francis — a spiritual leader of our time who reminded us to move through the world with purpose, compassion, and curiosity.
Key word: travel.
Lately, I’ve been feeling... lost.
Like, what happens when you’ve seen the world and realized how heavy, how corrupt, how confusing it all can be? If you’re anything like me, you know that stuck feeling.
And that’s why Pope Francis' perspective hit different. He used his own experiences — from being a bouncer to becoming Pope — to bring peace, joy, and real conversation to the world.
In one of his speeches, he told young people not to travel through life like tourists, but like pilgrims. That stuck with me.
He traveled to bring light to the poor, the incarcerated, the forgotten — he moved with intention.
So what does that say about how we should travel?
I think it means this:
We can’t keep waiting for the next big thing to happen. Or for a destination to impress us.
We’re meant to bring meaning with us. That’s where the real travel ego kicks in.
As a traveler, sometimes I catch myself judging others — for disconnecting, for not wanting to talk about what’s reallygoing on. But maybe the real question is: are we bringing back what we learn about the world into our own communities? Into our own joy?
Pope Francis did that.
He’d speak about Gaza, poverty, and being a child of immigrants.
He reminds me that reinvention is always possible. That being in your 30s and not knowing the next step? That’s holy ground.
Only children of immigrants know the art of becoming over and over again like that.
He was the embodiment of a spiritual traveler. And a damn good reminder that we don’t need to wait to become who we’re meant to be.
So… where are you exploring this week?
Read Full speech here: https://aleteia.org/2024/09/19/live-the-pilgrimage-of-life-pope-urges-youth
Me?
I’ll be dancing and exploring new corners of LA culture. Tapping into my multi-passionate, mildly lost, wildly curious self.
Pilgrim mode, always.