Table for One:The Power of Saying YESto Travel and New Experiences

What if the most radical thing you could do for your health, your confidence, and your joy — was to book a solo trip and go?

That is the question at the heart of Episode 160, and I have to tell you — this conversation lit me up. I sat down with Renee Landers, a 74-year-old competitive bodybuilder and fearless solo traveler who goes by @reneefitat70 on Instagram, and she reminded me of something I think a lot of us forget: the world does not shrink as we get older. We do — unless we refuse to let it.

Renee is not a travel influencer. She is not a professional adventurer. She is a woman who decided, somewhere along the way, that saying YES was a full-body practice — and that the dinner table, the airplane seat, the hotel room for one — were not sad places. They were sacred ones.

Meet Renee Landers: 74, Jacked, and Booked

If you have not followed Renee yet, stop reading and go do it. She competes in bodybuilding at 74. She travels solo to destinations that would make women half her age hesitate. And she does it all with a warmth and a realness that makes you feel like she is your most inspiring auntie — the one who shows up to Thanksgiving with a passport full of stamps and a story that makes everyone put their phones down.

What struck me most in our conversation was how she talked about fear. Not as something to conquer or push through — but as a signal. A sign that something matters. She told me: "If I am scared, that means it is worth doing." That is a reframe I am keeping forever.

"If I am scared, that means it is worth doing."

— Renee Landers, @reneefitat70

Why Solo Travel Is a Wellness Practice

We talk a lot on this show about the FITlife Framework — Fuel, Ignite, Transform. And I want to make the case that solo travel hits all three. You fuel yourself with new food, new culture, new sensory input that your nervous system has been craving. You ignite something dormant — a version of yourself that is curious and capable and not waiting for permission. And you transform, quietly, in the way that only happens when you are fully present with yourself, without the noise of your regular life.

Research backs this up. Solo travel has been linked to increased self-confidence, reduced anxiety, improved problem-solving, and a stronger sense of identity — especially in women over 40. When you navigate an unfamiliar city, order a meal in a language you do not speak, or sit alone at a beautiful restaurant and actually enjoy it — you are building evidence for yourself. Evidence that you are capable. That you are enough. That you do not need a plus-one to have a full life.

Renee put it beautifully: "Every trip I take alone, I come home more myself." I have felt that. I bet you have too — or you will.

Overcoming the Fear of Going Alone

The number one thing I hear from women who want to travel solo but have not yet is: "I am scared." And I get it. The world can feel big and unsafe and overwhelming — especially if you have spent decades organizing your life around other people. But here is what Renee and I talked about: the fear does not go away. You just get better at moving with it.

Start small. A weekend in a city you have always wanted to explore. A solo dinner at a restaurant you have been saving for a special occasion — and deciding that you are the special occasion. A day trip somewhere new. The muscle of saying YES gets stronger every time you use it.

The Bigger YES

This episode is called Table for One — but it is really about so much more than travel. It is about the practice of saying YES to your own life. To experiences that scare you. To the version of yourself that does not need everything figured out before she moves. To the idea that midlife is not a closing door — it is a wide open one, and you get to decide what is on the other side.

Renee Landers is 74 years old and she is still saying yes. She is still booking flights. She is still stepping on stage. She is still showing up for her own life with everything she has got. And if that does not make you want to open a new browser tab and look at flights — I do not know what will.

You are not too old. You are not too late. You are not too anything. The table for one is waiting. Pull up a chair.