I’m convinced that traveling is good for the soul, and that’s because I can see proof in my life and others! Though traveling isn’t a magic bullet that’ll solve all of your problems, it is a great way for personal growth. I’ve learned a lot from my travels these last 5 years and I want to share it with you. Let’s dig into why traveling is good for the soul and 5 amazing things I’ve learned because of it!
5 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling
1. A Healthy Dose Of Perspective
One of the main reasons why travel is good for the soul is because it challenges you. It forces someone to leave their ‘bubble’ or comfort zone.
You leave behind your familiar surroundings and trade them for foreign ones. It forces you to adapt to new scenarios and situations. How you respond to this is where personal development starts to happen.
Surroundings do have a big part in giving a new perspective, but so do people. Meeting and talking with new people from all parts of the world can make you think long and hard.
Oftentimes, what you’ve been told your whole life or things that have set as the standard, are different to those people.
They have completely different life views which can make you question what you know to be true. This made me realize that life is so much more than just how I view it.
2. Exercising Creativity
You know those challenging situations I just talked about? Well, they often force you to be creative to problem solve. Travel is good for the soul because it breeds creativity.
Fixing the issue can sometimes only be remedied by taking a different approach and doing something that makes you uncomfortable.
I think some people are more suited to this than others. Growing up, I was always pushed towards creativity by my parents, whether it was on purpose or not.
My family was all about creating things through different art forms like baking, sewing, photography, etc. Unfortunately, parental neglect also made negative situations where I had to use creativity to be able to feed, clothe, and protect myself.
I used to hate that I had those negative experiences, but both of my positive and negative creative experiences prepared me to face travel challenges later in life.
It wasn’t until I traveled that I realized that everything happens for a reason and that I shouldn’t harbor a grudge for past actions.
3. How Wrong History Books Can Be
While living in Cork, Ireland, I learned so much about Irish history. It was incredible to me how Ireland’s history can be so underrepresented and misrepresented in history textbooks.
When I arrived, I was clueless about the horrific tragedies that the Irish people have endured, especially the British colonization of Ireland.
This instance, along with other travel experiences, helped me to realize that history books only tell one version of a story; and usually, that version of the story has been warped to cover up or down play parts of history.
Travel is good for the soul because it sparks curiosity. Now that I know how wrong history books can be, I go out of my way to widen my view of history when traveling. Usually, I try to talk with locals or visit local museums to find out their side of history.
4. There Are Many Different Life Paths
Before traveling, I was under the impression that there was one main way to live life. Generally, society tells us that we have to graduate from university and then find a 9 to 5 job that will provide a comfortable life.
Travel is good for the soul because it shows you how many different possibilities are out there. While traveling, I found people going against the grain and taking different life paths.
After seeing others forging their ways and throwing away traditional expectations, it inspired me to do it too. Ironically, I had barely finished studying and receiving a Bachelors’s and Master’s degree, just to turn around and become a travel blogger.
Read more: Should I Start A Blog? 8 Powerful Questions So You Make The Best Decision
5. Alternative Travel Styles Exist
Travel is good for the soul because it showed me that there isn’t one single way to travel. There are two misconceptions I used to have about travel before actually traveling.
The first is that I thought what I saw on Instagram was a real picture of what it’s like to travel. I had no idea what responsible travel meant or how to have meaningful travel experiences.
Instead, I found out that it is so far from reality. Travel is almost always messy and imperfect. The perfect travel content you see on Instagram is only a small percentage of what it’s really like.
The second misconception was that you could only travel if you were rich. Travel used to be reserved for the wealthy, but now it’s so much more accessible.
Seeing the world is possible since there are many ways to save money on accommodation like house sitting and work exchanges. Self-development through travel can still happen, even if you have low funds!
Why Traveling Is Good For The Soul
Now that I’ve traveled a good deal, I realize how superficial it is to ‘collect countries’ – connecting the number of countries you’ve visited to prove how good of a traveler you are.
With that being said, I did feel incredible after arriving in my 25th country of Montenegro, but not for the reason you might think. This is a milestone that might not mean a lot to some people, but here is why it is huge for me.
My Background
I grew up in a decrepit town of 500 people in Northwestern Pennsylvania. It was and still is desperately worn out from the economic surge that the oil boom brought in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Ever since it has been declining in anything good and increasing in drugs and violence.
Maybe you have heard the term Bible Belt or Corn Belt? These are nicknames for regions of the US that are known for being strongly Christian and Conservative (Bible Belt) and heavy in agriculture and farming (Corn Belt).
The county I grew up in is a typical town in the Rust Belt of America. These are areas that were heavily laden with natural resources that have been almost completely used up or they had a lot of manufacturing jobs that have been outsourced outside of America.
This resulted in towns being a fraction of what they once were; businesses going bankrupt and people moving away to find better opportunities.
Back then, if someone told me that traveling is good for the soul, I would’ve probably laughed and responded by saying that only applies to people who can afford it.
In ‘Why Are Some People in the Rust Belt So Resistant to Change?’, Jason Segedy describes this process as,
“…pains from the phantom limb long after the amputation; the vertiginous sensation of watching someone (or something) die.”
Gone are the prosperous times that oil, coal, manufacturing, etc. brought to small-town America. When you grow up in a place like this, it is all you ever know and therefore seems normal.
What do you mean – driving through a half-abandoned oil refinery to get to school is normal right?
Due to my area and how I was raised, I grew up with a mentality that leaving my county means that you leave yourself open to the big, bad world whose only objective is to hurt you. Something bad will happen if you leave, so it’s easy to stay where it’s safe familiar.
Female Empowerment Wasn’t A Thing
As a girl and now a woman, I think about how I never had any role models growing up. Most women I knew did not aspire to be anything besides a wife and mother. I’m not saying wanting this is bad, it just sucked because it felt like that was the only thing we were good for.
If they did have a career they wanted, it was only just to have until they met a man to settle down with. For me, I thought this was normal and had no idea that women could be CEOs, magazine editors, sport managers, etc.
Authored by Alia Hanna Habib, the article ‘To Understand The Rust Belt, We Need To See Beyond Whiteness’ is an eye-opening expose on this small pocket of the world. She has described it better than I think I ever could with this quote,
“Everyone I could see in a position of any real power was a white, heterosexual man: the mayor; the school principals; the head of the juvenile detention facility; the head of the wastewater treatment plant (another school field trip, where we were encouraged to apply for jobs someday and girls were reassured, I kid you not, that there were positions for us as secretaries).” – Alia Hanna Habib
Traveling Is Good For The Soul
Thankfully, I know now that marriage and children are not the only purposes that we have as women. I know now that it’s okay to have dreams and goals. I know it’s okay to travel alone.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be where I am now. Travel can be very expensive in the United States so it always seemed like a luxury that I wouldn’t be partaking in.
I’ve been transformed by the joys and challenges that traveling makes you face. I can say wholeheartedly that traveling is good for the soul. Looking back, I can’t believe how shy and scared I used to be. It feels like I was a completely different person than compared to now.
Receiving the chance to travel and even live in Europe, opened my eyes to how affordable travel can be if you do it right. Without this, I wouldn’t have had the chance to see some of the world’s most historical sites, try some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had, or be immersed in cultures.
My verdict is that traveling is good for the soul. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Love This Post? Pin It For Later!
Disclaimer: This site contains affiliate links that will cost you nothing extra but offers us a little commission for any purchases made. This helps us continue to offer helpful tips and information. Thank you so much for your support.
