A taste of la Pura Vida

Happy T.O. day!

Welcome to Travel Onist featuring travel recommendations, personal growth stories, and inspiring content for your travels. 👇

Experience in Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Guanacaste Beach Guide

Guanacaste is known for having some of the most lovely beaches in the world.

When we visited the area a few years back, we had to try to see as many as we could.

We hit a good amount in our short visit: Tamarindo, Flamingo, Conchal, Danta, and Dantita.

While each beach had its own special sauce, they all offered that magnificent feeling of la Pura Vida.

Tamarindo is great if you want to be close to the action; with restaurants and shopping just steps from the sand.

We enjoyed dinner on the beach at El Chiringuito multiple times. Partially for the view and partially for the piña coladas and food.

Danta and Dantita are best for privacy. You’ve got a good chance of being nearly alone here. We were, and it was blissful.

Flamingo is a happy medium with a great restaurant — Coco Loco and Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville right off the shore. It was mostly empty when we visited, but I don’t think that is the norm.

Lastly, we have Conchal. This one is more upscale, with the W resort right on the water. It offers beautiful views, but you’ll be sharing those with a hefty crowd more likely than not.

We loved this area. While Costa Rica has been criticized by some for becoming overly touristy and expensive, there is still plenty to love in this country. 🇨🇷 ❤️

Weekly Write-up

I had a great conversation in therapy this week around the idea of self-talk.

I’m preparing for my first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition this weekend.

I’m nervous.

It’s been a while since I’ve competed.

Not to mention the fact that martial arts and swimming competitions are wildly different.

I’m unsure what to expect.

I know there will be some good competition, some much more experienced than I am.

But, of course, the competitor in me wants to win.

In my recent training sessions, I’ve found myself placing a tremendous amount of pressure on the competition—to the point that every mistake, tap, or opportunity missed becomes a sense of stress.

“I’m not ready for this; I’m gonna get my ass kicked,” I’d think.

Here’s a question for you: If you were competing in your first competition and someone came up and told you, “You’re not ready for this; you’re gonna get your ass kicked.”

How would that make you feel?

At best, you’d feel motivated to prove them wrong. But regardless, there is no doubt it would negatively affect your confidence.

So why would I talk to myself that way?

The source is understandable. Proving doubters wrong is a classic source of motivation. It’s the way I learned to motivate myself growing up in athletics.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the best way.

The way we talk to ourselves has a meaningful influence on our self-confidence. And we have more control over it than many of us would like to admit.

Research even shows that those who have positive self-talk perform better.

So here’s a framework to prevent us from doing the opposite: Talk to yourself as if you’re talking to a friend.

If you wouldn’t be that harsh on a friend, don’t be that harsh on yourself.

There are many things I tell myself that would be unacceptable to say to a friend — and that needs to change.

Airplane Content

Elderbrook

I’m feeling musical this week, so I’d like to share another one of my favorites in the progressive house genre. Again, this DJ is much more lowkey than those typically associated with house music and also passes the “my mom can vibe with this” test. I’ve linked one of their songs above. Check them out and let me know what you think!

AI Travel Art Piece of the Week

Cheers ‘til next week,

T.O.