We are naturally drawn to the outdoors; just like indoor plants we need water, nutrients and sunlight. If you find yourself in a slump it’s often because we get caught up in our nine to five routine every week, just like a merry-go-round at the amusement park continuously circling around the same paths. We do not observe anything new or experience a change of pace; this can leave us feeling deflated, lifeless just like the wilted indoor plant.
Travelling allows you to break your cycle and explore somewhere outside of your daily bubble and today I want to share with you five ways travelling can improve your wellbeing:
1. Provides Purpose
When you begin planning a trip you become excited giving yourself a goal to work towards, whether it’s going to work each day knowing that its a day closer to the date or saving your money to reach your ultimate destination. Waking up, going to work, come home, cook dinner, and go to bed… Sound familiar? When people have a reason or goal to work towards, you find a sense of purpose in what you’re doing instead of mindlessly working away each day.
2. Allowing Connection
Along your travels you often find yourself chatting away to strangers, perhaps on the bus between locations, during sightseeing or with a taxi driver, especially if you’re travelling with a group of new people through a tour company you begin finding yourself around those that are like-minded whom may have life advice you realize you’ve been wanting to hear, those that have the same thoughts, feelings and directions that can help remind you you’re not alone if your friends and family back home can’t relate. This is a great set up for the opportunity to make life long global friends, who knows where you’ll need a place to stay!
3. Breaking the cycle
Once you’ve set out on your adventure you are no longer bound to the early morning daily grind or the over night shift work. You get to create an itinerary that’s going to have you wanting to get out of bed for. Breaking your everyday routine is healthy to not feel trapped in the continuous cycle of what you believe “I have to do” each day. Travel itineraries give you the opportunity to have something new and less or more fast paced everyday than what you normally do because you’re totally in control, this also doesn’t mean booking a three-week overseas cruise but by all means go for it! You can plan for a long weekend or even just a two-day weekend trip, going Camping or ‘Glamping’, staying by a beach or national park just to take that break away from home. Allowing yourself some time and space that you probably desperately need to take will increase your overall wellbeing in the long run.
4. Cultural Experience
The opportunity to embark on a journey through another culture besides your own let’s you become aware of other ways of lifestyle choices, cooking, thinking and interacting. You may come across a new recipe that you can take home to try and recreate with your family or help those less fortunate through a volunteering program to remind yourself about the gratitude already in your life. Some examples are travelling to Thailand to experience a day with Monks, seeing how they use mindfulness and meditation as their way of life can spark new ideas for you to incorporate in your routine back home or by visiting Japan where many people are very polite and will often help you regardless of you asking or needing the guidance, their culture is very open to all new people and will leave you feeling grateful for the kindness their people give to you during your time there. Embarking on these large or small journeys can open your mind to the differences the world has compared to your own lifestyle.
5. Begin Again
Often after one has returned from their time away we begin again with a fresh open mind, we feel relaxed and ready to get back to what we do best, when returning to work we have new stories to tell our coworkers about or catching up with friends and family after our trip we get excited telling them about where we’ve been, what we did and our experience, time to time this is just what you need to gain clarity on some aspects in our lives. Occasionally you may return feeling as if you want to begin something new like studying a course or looking into extending or a different career path, which can be an exciting time to allow new chapters to start, no matter your age we are always changing, evolving and adapting and if it’s time for you to embark on a journey then take your time to breathe, enjoy and let yourself begin again.
