At the beginning of a backpacking trip with her boyfriend, 26-year-old travel content creator Jordynn Ison faced an unexpected breakup after six years of dating.Ison was left with no choice but to navigate both grief and the unknowns of solo traveling through a foreign country.Despite the emotional weight of a breakup, Ison used her time traveling abroad to grow personally, finding strength in embracing her emotions. Imagine being halfway around the world, miles from everything familiar and the person you thought you’d spend your life with decides to end things two weeks into the backpacking trip you’d planned together. It’s hard to say what’s more terrifying: being in a foreign country with no roadmap or grieving a six-year relationship nowhere near your comfort zone. For Jordynn Ison, a 26-year-old travel content creator, the pain of that breakup was amplified not just by the very adventure she had envisioned for her and her partner at the time, but by the fact that they had been together for six years. “It was kind of out of nowhere, which was why I think it was harder for me,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It was a big shock. We had talked about marriage sometime [that] year, getting engaged, all of those relationship things that you talk about." Just weeks into what was supposed to be a four-month-long getaway, Ison noticed her boyfriend acting differently, withdrawn as if he wasn’t enjoying himself. “I didn't know if it was necessarily because of me or the relationship, but I just kind of brought up the topic of, ‘We're in this beautiful place [and] you seem like you're not enjoying it,’ asking all these questions,” she explains. “Then, that sparked that conversation of, ‘I'm not happy with our relationship, I'm not happy with you.’” Traveling full-time and being far from home and family isn’t for everyone — it’s a huge lifestyle change. When asked if this could have been a trigger for him to suddenly pack up and leave, Ison didn’t disagree."I definitely think so, but we’ve traveled to about 19 or 20 countries together within our six-year relationship,” she says. “Maybe a little bit of it could have been the distraction because when we're home, we're working and we're kind of busy. We have [our own] routine.” “I feel like he's smart enough to know [whether] he had these feelings before the trip,” she adds. “It just doesn't make sense that it came completely out of nowhere, but I think it really expedited [the decision to break up] being just with me, by ourselves doing all of these things.” She notes that the breakup made everything even more heightened as she was forced to navigate unfamiliar territory without her significant other. "I'm very sensitive, and that was my person, my comfort zone," she reflects. "I had to learn [how] to be comfortable with myself, trust myself and just let myself feel all the emotions." After taking to social media to share the breakup news with her followers, Ison posted a video that was both vulnerable and empowering. In the clip, different shots of her in tears — surrounded by exotic views of her travels — showcased her allowing herself to feel the weight of her emotions. "When you thought your world was over because your relationship ended while traveling," she captioned the first few slides. The video then transitions from moments of her crying to ones of her smiling with friends, as she captioned, "But then you realized... it was really just the beginning." Rather than retreating from her circumstances, she found ways to keep moving forward, embracing both the solitude and support that would help her heal. "I was [on] a 13 to 12-hour time difference from everyone back home. During the day, I was just journaling, listening to music and doing those things. Then, in the mornings and evenings, when people would be awake, of course, I called my mom, I called my best friend and they definitely helped me get through," she says of how she coped with the shock of the breakup. "I knew that if I just take it day by day, one day at a time, if I get through this, then I can get through anything," she adds. "So I was just trusting [of] myself [believing] each day is going to be better than the next. You really just learn to lean into the things that bring you joy and make you happy, because when you're crying for hours and you're super upset, but then catch yourself laughing and smiling and stuff, it's kind of a light at the end of the tunnel." The silver lining of going through a breakup in the middle of Southeast Asia? No one knows who you are. "Even though it did feel isolating, it was a good distraction at the same time, because I am across the world [and] nobody knows me," she says. "I can cry in front of anybody, I can make friends with anybody. It gave me that ability to pick and choose, have freedom and also find joy." For Ison's now ex-boyfriend, however, this wasn’t the case. While the 26-year-old travel influencer embraced her solo journey, her ex chose a different path entirely, opting to return home rather than continue traveling. "He went straight home," she says. "We ended up breaking up, and then we stayed traveling together throughout Vietnam for three weeks, and then I helped him book a flight back home. The day that he flew home is the day that I flew to the Philippines and started my solo journey there." Despite the emotional difficulty of breaking up with a long-time boyfriend abroad, the two didn’t end on bad terms. Ison says she actually felt a sense of "comfort" with him there during the first couple of weeks, but she chose to remain level-headed, rather than falling for the illusion of him deciding to stay."It was this weird thing of I'm upset [but] then he is comforting me, so I felt like it was giving me hope in a sense, but then after the last week or two, it was random — I remember waking up [one day] and I just felt energetic and light and less stressed,” she reminisces. “I realized I don't need this person to be here with me and make this trip better. This trip is going to be good on my own."Since Ison's viral Reel, she has received countless messages from women sharing similar experiences. Many expressed how they had gone through something similar, seeking advice and offering support. “I saw your post, and my boyfriend and I just broke up, and I’m traveling in so-and-so,” Ison recalls some of the messages she received. “One thing that I keep saying to each person who messages me is [to] let yourself feel every emotion and don't block it off,” she explains. “You're going to feel angry, some days you're going to feel sad, you're going to feel confused, overwhelmed, anxious, but you're also going to feel excited and happy. Let yourself feel all of those emotions.” At the beginning of her trip, Ison met a fellow content creator through Instagram, and despite the brief time they spent together while she was still with her ex, they became close. Little did she know that this would turn into a real friendship. "I reached out to her a few weeks after the breakup and told her about it — she travels full-time, and I was like, 'If you want to meet up for part of the trip anywhere or something, let me know,'" she explains. "She ended up flying out to meet me after two weeks of me solo traveling, and we traveled together for five weeks. This girl is like my sister; I'm very close with her. So it brings you friendships that you never knew you could have." While reflecting on the unexpected silver lining of her breakup, Ison acknowledges that although she lost a romantic relationship, she gained what she considers a "platonic soulmate." She views this as a positive outcome, finding even more meaning in the growth that came from her experience. Ison also emphasizes the importance of trusting the universe. She believes that embracing fear and stepping into the unknown always leads to positive outcomes. “The universe will always reward you with something positive if you're open to receiving it,” she notes. When asked about her approach to future relationships and the possibility of a new romantic partner, Ison notes that she's not rushing into anything just yet. "I feel like I'm open," she says. "I'm not looking to jump into anything, but I'm not closed off at the same time because I feel like I've done a lot of healing and I've done a lot of growth." Reflecting on her time spent traveling, Ison shares how the past two months have felt much longer in terms of personal growth."Two months in travel time [feels] like three to four months in regular lifetime," she adds. "I just think with the self-growth and the reflection that I've done, I'm definitely open to receiving that if I do meet someone."