You may think, why even bother yourself with planning trips, booking hotels, and trying to understand the weather in the chosen country in the era of the Internet, when all of these can be reached out on the screen of your smartphone?
You can read anything you want, look at the photos, talk to people who have visited some places, but you will not be able to realize the impact of traveling on our lives until you fully immerse yourself in it.
Expanding Your Comfort Zone
Going for a trip is a chance to explore the borders of the world and the boundaries in our heads. You will meet people from significantly different cultures, but at the same time, you will notice that their basic needs are similar. Everyone wants to be healthy and live a stable, meaningful life in a peaceful world; everyone is afraid to be lonely. The difference is in the ways they deal with it.
The new environment teaches us to think in unusual ways and shows that life and its values can vary from one place to another. It helps to see that our beliefs and moral systems may be irrelevant. It insists on making yourself comfortable everywhere.
Unexpected lessons can occur at every step. Keeping your mind open and not being afraid to ask questions can help gain new skills and knowledge from places you have come to. Look at the world from different points of view and get the experience to grow as a human being. Learn to accept the unmanageable aspects of life and go with the flow (sometimes literally). Try something you have never tried before or maybe have not even heard of, and enjoy unbiased and genuine impressions.
Traveling is the most comfortable way to come out of your comfort zone.
Traveling With Yourself
First of all, running away from your problems has never helped anyone to solve them. But confronting yourself in circumstances where you no longer can suppress the overflowing feelings can lead to radical improvements in your life and interpersonal relationships. Eventually, either a general question like “What am I doing with my life?” or a more specific one like “Why do I push people away?” will cross your mind.
When problems are in non-direct proximity, our brain tries to find the answer most efficiently and logically. It always affects our creativity by limiting alternative or more extraordinary decisions we can come up with. Creating distance between yourself and your concerns may relieve the psychological tension and turn the difficulties upside down.
Traveling alone may be uncomfortable because of psychological aspects and being ashamed of being on your own. Small steps are the best way to handle it if you have such a struggle. Starting from going out for dinner or attending yoga classes alone, you may not even notice that you are sitting on a bus that takes you to another city (or even a country).
The main point is to find time to deal with the issues you have been saving for later and use traveling as a tool for self-development.
Coming Back
People and places continuously change, and coming back from a trip allows you to take a fresh look at your native surroundings, environment and be more conscious of your own culture. The impression can depend on places you have visited, experiences you have got, or how long you have been absent at home, and it may be a relief or even a breakthrough.
Sometimes it is easy to forget that changes are the only permanence in life. They often happen so slowly that you do not capture them. But when you see them, it makes you appreciate these very present moments.
And of course, there are lots of practical improvements which are implemented in your life immediately. You become more flexible and patient in unexpected difficulties, more of a critical and oriented on solving problems thinker. You learn to research and plan your activities and financial resources, adapt and manage stress when needed, your self-confidence and empathy become stronger. You start to appreciate new experiences more than any short-term material pleasures.
Conclusion
Besides the fact that travels are often considered mostly part of the entertainment, it is essential to gain from it everything that can be useful for your self-development. Meet new people to learn how to interact with the world differently. Try local cuisines and “once in a lifetime” activities, and share your experiences to inspire others. Use improved soft skills to make and, the more critical, maintain interpersonal relationships.
Traveling is not just a physical transfer to a new location. It is the path to yourself. There is a whole world out there, but there is so much more inside every single of us.