Why We Travel: The Benefits of Travelling – Part 1

We all love to travel. Travelling seems to be imbedded in our nature. But is there any truth to it or is it just in our heads?

Psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones, director of the Counselling and Wellbeing Centre in Brisbane, commenting on our innate desire to travel, says:

“From a very primal point of view, humans are nomadic by nature. Even though we have evolved, that innate desire to wander the lands is still embedded deeply in our psyche.”

She comments on this further and says: “And on a purely superficial level, it’s just a great way to recharge the batteries and have a bit of fun with those you love. So it’s very easy to understand why travelling is self-healing for so many.”

Besides this innate wanderlust that we all have, there are numerous other benefits of travelling. We will try to list some of those below:

It Helps you Reset Yourself

Most of us travel because we want an escape from our routine. With ever increasing ways of communication, our work-life balance has been greatly disturbed. All this makes it all the more important for us to take a break, go on a vacation, and give time to ourselves as well.

Having new experiences not only improves our brain function, but also increases our overall mental health. A lot of people have experienced a decrease in their anxiety and depression after travelling.

It Helps you Boost your Confidence

A lot of us are comfortable with our surroundings and the people we meet on a regular basis. But what if we’re put in a difficult situation with people who are new and we have to now deal with them?

Well, if you’re a traveller then you will be able to handle such situations much better than others. Travellers have to frequently talk to new people, manage to communicate in languages they don’t know, and ask people for simple and little things in a foreign environment. All these are crucial in building a person’s self confidence and that is a life skill that each and every one of us requires.

It Helps you Enchance your Creativity

Your brain is highly stimulated while travelling. Whenever humans are exposed to new situations or experiences, their brain creates new neural networks in trying to overcome the new challenges.

These new neural networks help you eventually be more creative in your everyday life as well. So if you’re looking for that big idea that you know you have in your mind but can’t really put it in words, maybe it’s time to take a trip and let those creative juices flow!

It Helps you Appreciate Different Cultures

Another benefit of travel, and perhaps the most obvious one, is that it helps you realize that the world is not black and white. People who don’t travel normally stay in their own social bubble which sometimes makes them very rigid. In contrast, the more you travel, the more you interact with different people from different cultural backgrounds. It not only helps you appreciate the diversity of the human race, but also at times helps you realize that there are more than one ways to do the same thing.

This in turn can help you in your work place as well as it will help you develop critical thinking which is an essential skill for many jobs.

Our journey has just begun. In the subsequent posts, we look forward to discussing more benefits of travelling with you all. Let us know in the comments if you have more benefits of travelling that you would like us to add.

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