Travelling is a hobby for some and for others it is a requirement. Travelling has many benefits that help you in life. Whether you travel for leisure or for work, every trip to every new place teaches you valuable lessons about life. Avid travellers often talk about the lessons they have learnt while travelling to new and far away destinations. From self-discovery to acceptance, travelling indeed is a great teacher. Here are some of the best life lessons travel has to offer. Take a look:
- Self-discovery – People who travel get to discover facts about themselves they weren’t even aware of. As a person well-settled in your life, you may feel like you know yourself well. But when you travel, you get to discover yourself and see how you stand in the great equation of life. When you equate your life and achievements to those around you in an unknown environment, you get to know where you actually stand. When you stay put in a known environment, you get so comfortable with the surroundings that you forget to explore the world beyond. Go on a journey, explore new places and undergo self-discovery like you never have before.
- Value for others – You become so comfortable in your everyday life that you forget to value the people in your life. You take everyone for granted. But when you live your cocoon behind and set foot in a new environment, away from these very people, you begin to value them properly. When you look at others, when you explore relationships beyond your own, you realize how people in general function and this makes you value the people in your life more. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder! This is another crucial life lesson that travel teaches everyone.
- Acceptance – You learn to accept people and cultures on a wider spectrum. When you travel, you get to experience cultures of all kinds and some of them are very far removed from what you have experienced thus far in life. This opens your eyes and your mind to the fact that people from all walks of life co-exist in this world. It makes you more tolerant and accepting and you start to respect people for who they are. If you do not travel, you do not get to know the world beyond your own and this makes life experiences very limited for you. Explore more and accept more and become a bigger person in the process.
- Travel is not an escape – People travel for all kinds of reasons. A common reason to travel is to escape from the troubles. If you have recently suffered a personal loss, you travel to take your mind off it. If you feel very stressed, you travel in an attempt to relax. But those who travel regularly know that travel is never an escape from the troubles. If you travel to escape, your troubles will catch up with you. Instead, accept the flaws of your life, make peace with them and then travel with a free mind. This will make the experience richer and more fulfilling for you and you will open new doors to new experiences which will fetch you the peace and happiness you want.
- Loneliness is not real – An avid traveller knows that he is never alone in the world. So if you feel lonely and do not find anyone to seek comfort in, just pack your bags and get travelling. When you travel, you realise that loneliness is just a state of mind. No one is lonely in this world. When you travel, you meet new people, you form transient relationships and you also make friends for life. You explore new places and meet wonderful new people who mostly are very loving and giving. Travel becomes a true companion and opens out a world for you, which helps you to overcome the feeling of loneliness.
Travel enriches you and there is no real substitute to travel. As the famous quote goes, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”. This is tremendously true and you need to travel to open up the world for yourself.
