Travel is good for the soul. Most travelers already know that. So, if you’ve got what feels like an incurable case of wanderlust, it may be serving your mental health. Even a short trip can work wonders on your psyche and general sense of wellbeing. Discover these 7 ways that traveling is good for the soul and your mental health, below.
CONTENTS – In this article, you’ll learn more about why travel is good for your soul and mental health, including:
- Ways Travel is Good For Your Mental Health
- How Travel Affects Your Perspective
- Creating Happy Memories and Skills While Traveling
- When Travel Becomes and Escape
- The Opportunity to Make Connections
- How Travel Affects Your Identity
- The Stress Benefits of Traveling
- Can Travel Restore Your Sense of Hope?
- Final Thoughts on Traveling for Mental Health
7 Ways that Traveling Supports Your Wellbeing
While time is a medicine that can heal all wounds, travel gives that extra push to make the healing go faster. What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you see the word “travel”? Is it trying new experiences? Vacation? Relaxation? Seeing new sights?
Traveling is no doubt exhilarating and it’s something that everyone should experience. Traveling is more than sunsets and shopping–it’s a way to get your mind off things. It’s a way to allow you to develop yourself in a faraway land, and it’s a way for you to be who you want to be.
Traveling can be pretty good for your physical wellbeing since this tends to be the time where you are far more active than you are during your regular life. It also means you get the chance to sleep more as well.
But traveling is also good for the soul, your mental health. It may come as a surprise, but if you’re stressed or dealing with something in your life, traveling could be exactly what you need to get your mind in the right headspace.
Here are some ways that traveling can make your mind happy and healthy.
1. You’ll Get a New Perspective
The beauty of the world is the fact that we’re not the same. All of us are different whether it be the language, culture, traditions, or even right down to the land itself. Changing your local environment can help in increasing your cognitive flexibility.
This allows you to gain a new perspective, seeing things outside of your regular point of view. This can also help in creating depth and integrativeness within your thought process as well.
Yes, traveling in itself can be stressful, but it tends to be good stress such as planning what you’re wanting to do.
2. Happy Memories and Skills after the Trip
Even after your fun-filled trip, you’ll still have the opportunity to benefit from your travels.
This could be something such as decorating your home with souvenirs, looking back on photos and videos to relive what you experienced and even gaining skills that can be used afterward.
One great skill would be cooking, you had the chance to expand your palette while traveling so now you can create the amazing cuisine you had.
Vacations and other travels allow you to bring back memories of peacefulness and happy thoughts. It gives you a nice reminder of how life should be every day.
3. You’ll Get to Temporarily Escape Reality
One way that travel boosts healing wounds is the fact that you get to just escape the daily grind. You won’t need to worry about what’s on your to-do lists.
No need to work, you can do as you please.
Want to eat sushi for breakfast? No problem, just do it!
Getting to escape your regular environment gives you the chance to grow. It even has the power to just rewire your brain because you’re not in your regular setting.
Have you ever noticed that you’re more confident on your trips? Getting to wear what you want, act the way you want? It’s the opportunity to escape the reality that allows for the improvement of mental health.
4. This Gives you the Chance to Connect
Just like escaping reality, traveling can give you the chance to be vocal.
If you’re someone that is usually shy, maybe you find yourself being more open when you’re far away. Maybe this can also lead to answering unknown phone calls and looking into the location of a person. Of course, you’ll want to use due caution.
Even when it comes to love and friendship, traveling allows us to be more welcoming towards others. This could be strangers who are also travelers, locals, or even friends and family that are traveling with you.
In our usual environments, we tend to build walls around ourselves, and getting out of our environment through traveling is a great way to combat it.
5. You’ll Be Who You Want to Be
Just like with escaping reality and tearing down walls for connection, you get the chance to reinvent yourself. It’s always important to take a step back every once in a while and just take a good look at yourself. There’s never anything wrong with trying to reinvent yourself.
Traveling is there to expand your mind, interests, and even your personality. It’s something that you should just completely open up and welcome. Traveling to foreign countries gives you the chance to really think about your own. It also teaches you that being different doesn’t mean that something has to be good or bad, it just means different.
Traveling also gives you the opportunity to get yourself a fresh start. It allows you to push towards transitioning in the direction that you want to be in.
If you’re dealing with a broken heart whether it be a breakup or a death, traveling can help you really think about what has happened and pushes you to make the needed changes within yourself.
6. It Allows your Troubles to Melt Away
Traveling is a great stress reliever. You’ll have your troubles melted away, or at least they’ll be pushed off for a little while. The stressors of your environment such as your job, home, or people in your life can cause major stress, can’t they?
It’s so important to have something to distract you every once in a while, something that’s meaningful. Just like your body needs to rejuvenate, your mind needs that as well.
Traveling promotes happiness, it helps you cross out goals you want to complete, it makes you content. Even if you’re busy during your travels, just getting the chance to flee from your problems shows travel is good for the soul. That can really help your mentality.
7. It Can Help you Become More Hopeful
It may sound wacky but the views you saw along your travels such as landscapes, cityscapes, or whatever can help you out. You become more visually aware of your surroundings. This can help you become more hopeful and positive.
Even if you are feeling anxious about traveling solo, when you’re in a beautiful setting, you may feel more at ease.
In our usual everyday environments, we neglect to see what’s around us, it all blends in. But traveling, getting to go to new environments helps fight this.
Final Thoughts on Why Travel is Good for the Soul
So, there really is something to this passion for travel you have. Innately, travel is good for your soul and your mental health will benefit.
In fact, continue reading more about why travel is good for you at any age, here.
Here are more tips on traveling with mental health issues.
Photo credit: Venice – Rebe Adelaida, San Fran – Ian Schneider (Unsplash)