They say traveling is the only thing you buy that makes you richer. I couldn’t agree more. To me, traveling is more of an occasional necessity than a luxury. Because the more I travel, the more I realize how much it can change the perception of a human being into one that’s more understanding, more compassionate and more open-minded.
So if you ever feel like things are starting to get a bit out of control and you need some form of therapy, don’t look for a specialized counselor. Instead, pack your bags, book a flight and just leave. Hey, it worked with Elizabeth Gilbert, then why wouldn’t it with you? Here’s why traveling is the ultimate form of therapy:
1. Traveling liberates you from everything and anything holding you back
When you travel, you start to really believe in “the possibilities are endless”. You can go anywhere, talk to anyone, eat anything and do whatever you want while you’re away. Having almost zero responsibilities and being surrounded by new everything makes the sky your only limit.
2. Traveling makes you stop caring about what others might think about the way you act or the way you look
There’s no meeting or appointment to attend. There’s no chance of running into someone you know. And somehow, the belief that you will probably never see anyone you know cross your path becomes stronger when you are in a different country or city than the one you call home. How people view me is usually the last thing on my mind when I’m abroad.
3. Traveling teaches you to live in the moment
The fact that you only get to spend a few days or even months in a certain place suddenly makes you realize that every day – nay, every moment, counts. You start to truly realize that when a moment is gone, it’s never coming back, so you make use of each and every single one of them.
4. Traveling teaches you to let go
If there ever comes a moment while you’re traveling when you sit and think about the past, you will definitely do so with a more peaceful and forgiving mindset. There’s something about traveling far from your usual place (even if it’s just to a nearby city) that makes all the bad memories and misfortunes not seem as big as you usually make them to be.
5. Traveling makes you less angry and much more open minded
This is kind of a result of the above point. When you let go of the ugly part of your past, you say goodbye to a huge portion of anger with it. On the other hand, seeing so many different people and hearing different languages from the ones you’re used to makes you ten times more open minded every time you set foot out of your hometown.
6. Traveling makes you appreciate the little things
Whether it’s a cup of gelato, a fully bloomed rose or an old man feeding birds at exactly 1 pm, at exactly the same place, every single day, you learn to see beauty everywhere you go and in everything and everyone that crosses your path.
7. Traveling makes you more humble
Traveling makes you truly understand how big the world is. And there’s something about that realization that makes you feel small, but in the best possible way. That teaches you that no matter how much you think you’re smart, rich or powerful, there will always be a power that is much bigger and much greater than you.
8. Traveling makes you feel that it’s actually okay to get lost sometimes
I get lost all the time when I travel and, honestly, I have always enjoyed it greatly. Because not only does it teach me how to think on my feet, but it also teaches me to let go of my set-in-stone plans and just let myself get fully immersed in my surroundings.
9. Traveling teaches you acceptance
When you’re somewhere far from home, your political stances and your very strong opinions about every issue on the planet suddenly become irrelevant and unimportant. Not in a belittling way, but in a way that teaches you that sometimes you can be wrong, other times you can be right, but most of the time there is no wrong or right. In the end, they’re all just opinions and we’re all entitled to have them.
10. Traveling teaches you how to be a good guest
On his trip to Gaza, Anthony Bourdain said, “You have to be a good guest first–as a guiding principle. Other wise you’d spend the rest of the world lecturing people, pissing people off, confusing them and learning nothing.” There’s nothing really to add here. The man has said it all.
11. Traveling makes you step out of your comfort zone
You truly surprise yourself when you travel. You speak a different language (or at least, try to), you talk to strangers, you eat an unfamiliar dish, you bungee jump and you do all of these things on the span of a few days. Tell me how many days, months, or even years it takes you to step out of your comfort zone while you’re stationed at your hometown?
12. Traveling lets you know yourself better
Being away from familiar people and familiar places gives you time to observe how you really are and what you really enjoy doing. When no one around you is expecting you to behave in a certain way, you suddenly realize that you can be anything or anyone you want to be.
13. Traveling teaches you how to adapt
Nothing teaches you how to adapt more than traveling does. The number of street names you have to remember, getting used to the working hours/days of everything around you and learning that some behavior you’re used to may not be acceptable where you are or vice versa will make you adapt to any situation you face in your life in a split second.
14. Traveling makes you appreciate home
There’s no doubt that every time I travel and come back, it saddens me to see Egypt being very far from the country every Egyptian dreams it would be one day. However, had I never been to a city where everything closes down at 8pm, I would have never appreciated that everything here stays open until 2 am.
Had I never been to a city where I spend 30 Euro everyday on food, I would have never appreciated the gigantic plate of koshary that only costs 6 LE, and off which I could live for an entire day. Home has its good and bad, and as much as I mourn the bad when I come back, I also always appreciate the good.
15. Traveling teaches you the language of genuine smiles and kind looks
The most precious language of all.
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