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4 Reasons Why Traveling Helps You Grow as a Person

When you travel, you not only learn about new cultures and traditions, but also about yourself. Traveling helps you grow as a person by challenging you to step out of your comfort zone, keeping you alert to new experiences, and exposing you to different ways of thinking. It’s true that many people see traveling as an extravagance; after all, it costs money to get from place to place. But anyone who’s ever traveled knows that it has enormous benefits for the mind. This article will give insight into why traveling makes you a better person in the long run.

By Julia IngramPublished 3 years ago 5 min read

Traveling Helps You Learn About Yourself

When you travel alone, you can reflect on who you are as a person. You can focus on your goals and ambitions, making sure they’re still relevant and important to you. You can think about how you could improve yourself, and how you could become a better person. By traveling alone, you get a chance to step back and examine your life from an outsider’s perspective. You have time to think about what really matters to you, and what you really want out of life. You may also get the chance to make life-changing decisions when you travel alone. You could decide to change your career path, or even your lifestyle. If you’re in a relationship, you could decide to end it, or vice versa, you could decide to commit to it.

Traveling Forces You Out of Your Comfort Zone

And in my experience there's another reason why traveling helps: you grow as a person is that it forces you out of your comfort zone. This is because when you travel to a place where you don’t speak the language, or don’t know the customs or traditions, you’re forced to stay alert and engaged in new experiences. When you’re in a new place, you’re hyper-aware of everything that’s going on around you. You’re careful about what you eat and drink, and you’re on your toes at all times. In other words, you’re not in a state of relaxation. Instead, you’re in a state of high alertness. Being out of your comfort zone helps you grow as a person, because you’re faced with challenging situations. However, instead of running away from these situations, you have to stay calm and composed. You have to remain alert and engaged in your surroundings, so you can handle the situation at hand. Traveling helps you grow as a person because it forces you to be alert and engaged in new experiences. It forces you to stay out of your comfort zone, and thus grow as a person.

By Hu Chen on Unsplash

Encountering your archetype WILL make you experience some amazing changes in your life... Self-awareness, a defined purpose, joy, abundance...

... Everything that we've been yearning to experience.

Travelling Helps You Grow Through New Experiences

Everyone has their own way of growing as a person. Some people prefer meditation, while others prefer to read books. You could be an excellent reader, or a fantastic meditator. But if you never travel, you’re never going to grow through new experiences. You’re never going to experience new things and environments, and you’re never going to have new memories. If you travel, you get to experience new things every day. You get to visit new places, eat new foods, and meet new people. You get to experience different weather conditions, and see different landscapes. You get to explore new cultures, customs, and traditions. In other words, you get to experience new things every single day. Growing as a person through new experiences is essential to a fulfilling life. But you can’t experience new things without traveling.

By Walker Fenton on Unsplash

Traveling Makes You More Aware of Your Environment

Another reason why traveling helps you grow as a person is that it makes you more aware of your environment. When you travel to a place where you don’t speak the language, or don’t know the customs or traditions, you have to be extra careful to avoid offending anybody. You have to be careful about what you eat and drink, and you have to be on your toes at all times. In other words, you have to be extra vigilant about your environment. You have to be extra aware of your surroundings, and of the people around you. Being extra aware of your environment helps you grow as a person. It helps you become more aware of other people in your environment, and how to interact with them. It helps you become more aware of your surroundings, too. You become more aware of what’s going on around you, and of possible threats in the environment. Traveling helps you become more aware of your environment, and thus allows you to grow as a person.

Traveling Helps Develop Cultural Awareness and Understanding

When you travel to a new place, you get to meet new people, and learn about their cultures and customs. You get to visit new cities, and see new landmarks. You get to experience new landscapes, and consume new kinds of food. You get to explore new environments, and become more aware of your surroundings. You get to learn about new languages, and how they’re spoken. And you get to learn about different ways of thinking. You get to understand how other people think, and how they make decisions. You can learn what makes these people happy, sad, angry, or excited. You can learn how they feel about certain issues and topics, and what they value in life. This is incredibly important, because the more you understand people, the less conflict there is. You can learn how to avoid offending people, and how to get along with them. When you travel, you get to expand your cultural awareness, and thus your understanding of people.

By Ahmad Qaisieh on Unsplash

Traveling Helps You Grow in Ways You Couldn’t at Home

When you travel, you get to experience things you could never experience at home. You get to visit different cities, and explore new landscapes. You get to try new foods, and engage in new activities. And you get to meet new people every day. You get to be in a different environment every single day, and this helps you grow as a person in ways you couldn’t at home. When you’re at home, you’re comfortable, and you’re in your element. You’re surrounded by people you know, and you have everything you need nearby. This makes it easy to stay in your comfort zone. You have nothing to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and nothing to make you grow as a person. However, when you travel, you get to experience new things every day. You get to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and grow as a person in ways you couldn’t at home.

By Joshua Earle on Unsplash

When I think of all my traveling experiences, all the years I have traveled on the road, by train or plane, I had so much fun, met so many people and saw places, I have never been before and never afterwards. But I have a bag full of memories I wouldn't trade for all the money in the world. Traveling made me the person I am today, and this couldn't be done in any other way. I am more self-confident, have more trust in my skills and be more positive than ever before.

What's the takeaway? - Traveling in all its facets has immense benefits for the human mind

By now, I know you’ve probably realized that traveling has immense benefits for the human mind. It helps you learn about yourself, grow through new experiences, become more aware of your environment, develop cultural awareness and understanding, and grow in ways you couldn’t at home. Thus, it’s clear that traveling is the right answer for every question. Now that you know why traveling helps you grow as a person, you can start planning your next trip, no matter if you think of planning a backpacking trip around the world, or a short trip to the next city or a short weekend trip to a city in your community. However, no matter what you decide to do, you should definitely travel more often.

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About the Creator

Julia Ingram

Traveler.. Poet.. Musician. While on the road, I'm learning so many things about life. So, I take a deep breath, and remind myself that it is important to take time for yourself. There's so much beauty in the world. #TravelLife #SelfCare

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