“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”―
Travel is one of my top two, but not number 2, favorite pastimes. Travel has also been the most impacted, given the most recent pandemic that continues to leave its imprint on the world, and it’s now… 2022?
Pre Covid-19, travel was like the piggy bank I deposited my worldly desires into and later broke open only to splurge across a five to seven-day excursion a few times a year either on some beautiful island or far away city with sensational shopping experiences. (Hey, New York 😉 )
Once Covid-19 showed its hand and quarantines became a thing, even a trip to the grocery store felt like a great escape. As we began to relax a bit on travel and retake trips, I started to take note of all the things I appreciate and love about travel, including some things I will never take for granted again. I learned that a two-day trip to a new city is just as exciting and fulfilling as any five-day excursion on an island. Both are equally worthy of recognition and appreciation.
Travel, a verb often synonymous in the mind with vacations, doesn’t always have to look like a five-to-ten-day getaway on a Caribbean island with margaritas and sandals and a beautiful golden tan with skin glowing from every angle in which the sun hits you. It also doesn’t have to look like four days on a different coast with fancy dinners, great drinks, and tourism stops to beautiful shopping centers. Sometimes, it can look like a short weekend getaway close by, in a town not far from yours or maybe even a few hours away. Possibly, near a beach or in the middle of a city different from your own with an opportunity to experience a comedy show or live jazz music event someplace wonderfully new. If you plan it right, you can sometimes get to do so for under $200 round trip. Ask me how..
Whatever your motivation or spirit for exploration, traveling greatly benefits the mind, body, and soul. Aside from evading import and duty tax, these are my favorite parts of travel and why I might be finding creative ways to do more of it in 2022.
Image Credit: TheTravelBlog | Exploring Batswana
FIVE REASONS;
Travel improves your lifestyle;
Travel is a stress reliever and mood booster, providing possibilities for mental expansion and stimulation. It is the catalyst that influences how people reinvent themselves! Just the idea of an anticipated vacation is enough to trigger a release of dopamine in the brain. As if this were not enough, travel also helps one appreciate the lifestyle you currently have. As we gain exposure to other cities and experience different cultures that can provide a perspective outside of our own, it can influence a brought about awareness to life and all of which there is to be appreciative of.
An opportunity to disconnect and refresh:
The feeling that night before your first day of PTO kicks in? That feeling of waking up at your decided hour and doing whatever you want for 24 hours of that day, and then getting to do so again the next day, and the next.. what would you do?
Traveling can provide a pathway for relieving the stress that life brings. A break in the monotony of the day-to-day can help to improve your mental and even help with depression. Traveling helps shape positive thoughts in the mind and contributes to happier and inspired feelings. Everything requires balance to be successful, including you. Finding a balance of mental peace and well-being contributes to a healthier and more positive life.
Traveling Creates Memories and Shared Experiences
Traveling forces you to be in the moment, an experience we fail to appreciate often because we are too busy capturing the perfect one or watching someone else in theirs. (Hello Social Media, I’m calling you out!) Whether accompanied by friends or traveling alone, you have an opportunity to be present in your current experience. There is no guarantee that you will ever reencounter this experience. https://oddbrnd.com/2022/07/03/your-greatest-human-superpower-listening/Travel also provides an opportunity to connect with others and helps you to become a better listener. When traveling, you will quickly discover that everyone has a story to tell. These shared experiences with others allow for deeper and more connected conversations, and you just never know who you may meet..
Traveling Builds your Confidence
In the exciting journey of embracing new experiences and having an openness to new cultures, it is without a doubt your entire world will change. Traveling challenges you to acknowledge your weaknesses and embrace your strengths. You are forced into a place of unfamiliarity, and within that space, you are being challenged to embrace new experiences.
Have you ever experienced a time you found the confidence to speak to someone in a language not native to your own and the joy that circulates within the energy between the two of you? That experience alone where someone recognizes your efforts to connect with them will surely build your confidence. The more we continue to exist outside the boundaries of our comforts, the more confident we become in expanding our thinking and understanding.
Discovery of Life leads to Discovery of Self;
Traveling requires you to be present and in the moment. You have to be aware of your surroundings and fully alert in an environment that is unfamiliar to you. As you explore your new environment and build connections with others, there lies a possibility of awareness of the power that exists within ourselves: the summation of our life lessons and experiences fully shaping and influencing a higher awareness.
Lamu, Kenya | Photo: Jack Johns
Have I convinced you yet? Book the trip, sis!
What do you think?