To all the places I’ve been to, I’ve been very blessed to realize how much impact traveling has had in me, let alone change my life. As the year is winding down, this is the time to reflect on the places you’ve gone to and to encourage yourself to seek more adventures in this new year and inspire yourself to learn more about our world… and yourself.

When I was younger, I didn’t realize how much my parents did to keep my siblings and I happy through travels and discovering places and things that sparked our curiosities.  I know not a lot of people have had parents introduce them to these things at a young age or opportunities to have the freedom to get out there but reminding yourself why travel is important will make you rethink how it can really benefit. I have hardly seen the world (as ironic as my blog’s name is) but the places I’ve already been to have touched my heart and truly strengthened me as the person I am now.

These are the reasons how traveling has made me be a better and happier person and how it can help you too:

It helps you overcome depression.

I battled depression since I was very young. I was just very insecure and had zero confidence in myself and saw opposite of everything that others would tell me, which in turn, it made me to be negative and view everyone around me as negative especially in high school. I was bullied a lot as a young child who was very shy and afraid of being themselves and carried on the pain to myself.  Throughout high school, my mind was trapped in what seemed as this never-ending cycle and I concentrated too much on the little things that I can laugh at now. In high school, those years mean absolutely nothing to the real world and the experiences you’ve had then doesn’t define you as the person you’ll bloom into. I didn’t travel all throughout high school and missed out on opportunities when my family did because I had to stay in school and so, being in a small little world didn’t make me know better. After I took a vacation when I graduated from high school, it felt like all along that I needed a break and I needed to be reminded that there are places that can help me learn more about what I can inspire to be, which leads me to feeling like I have a purpose.

It makes you feel like you have a purpose.

I felt some type of happiness I couldn’t explain when my parents took me and my siblings everywhere they went and being absent for a while from that made me lose touch of reality. Traveling makes you open your eyes and it makes you open your mind up to be more alive in this moment than ever. Breaking routine is amazing. It also reminds you that you’re not just on this planet to just work and study or sleep and eat. You’re out there to do great things for yourself or others! It also helped me build my confidence in myself and realize that it is possible to reach for the stars.

It makes you have a better perspective on other cultures.

Being open-minded to learn cultures isn’t for everyone, as surprising as it may sound. Education is one of the things you’ll gain with traveling and having information to things you didn’t know before is valuable stuff. Cultures can introduce you to food you’ll love or music you’ll enjoy dancing to and have you be more accepting and understanding towards others. Cultures express diversity and it opens up your mind and you’ll carry on this open-minded mentality for as long as you should.

It helps you face your fears.

I am afraid of heights and being so close to edges but doing things like hiking makes me forget those fears, ironically enough. I used to miss home a lot and had homesickness when I was younger but I learned to embrace where I am if I’m not home because the moments are so temporary compared to being home, you can have forever. Most people love comfort but when you get out of your comfort zone to do things you never expected of doing, it will help build resilience that might help you to be prepared to do those things again.

It teaches you to be resourceful.

It will help you be a better planner and sometimes, traveling can put you up to dealing with unplanned things. Those boundaries are pushed and you’ll have to face what it’s like to make last minute adjustments and being able to solve problems. When you plan things for your trips, you’ll probably already be expected to do lots of research. Once you start planning for things like where you should go, where you should stay, and budgeting it all out, you can apply that to anything in real life. You also might get out of your comfort zone by interacting with strangers to ask them questions or to get a feel of the what the best places to see are. Sometimes, I have anxiety when I have to talk people I’ve never met or spoken to before but it’ll easily not phase you anymore when you get used to it.

It helps you to be away from social media at times.

This is something that everyone who loves social media should try especially when they’re away. It’s hard not to put away your cameras when you’re traveling, which is totally fine, because who wouldn’t want to take as much pretty shots as you can of pretty places?! But when social media consumes so much of your time by scrolling through feeds, reciprocating the likes and comments, and entertaining yourself through apps, traveling can make you drop all of that for the moment and truly concentrate what’s in front of you. Sometimes, you won’t even have a choice if there’s a lack of service and everyone needs to detox from it sometime.

It makes you realize the value of intangible things.

Materials are easily desired and loved by so many but what if traveling makes you realize that spending on experiences are well worth it? When I get those impulsive moods that I want a brand new pair of shoes or clothes, the idea of wanting to travel more or have more experiences to live my life comes up in my head and that’s when I usually have second thoughts. It made me want to practice minimalism and that if I can go on a trip for a week with a little amount of things packed, then I should be fine living my day-to-day life with not a lot of things either. When shopping, I always weigh out my options of what will be more important in the future: groceries, trendy clothes, or funds towards a trip? Usually, I lean on things like groceries and travel funds.

It will help you change your views on life.

Traveling can impact you so much more than you’ll realize before. Sometimes, your philosophical views may have shifted and it can be life-changing to think the way you do when you come back from a trip that blew your mind. You might enjoy a culture so much that you might want to be a part of it, meet your soulmate or love of your life, find your desire to go to school for or study for, or help you to think more positive by reflecting on those travel experiences. For me, I realized I am became more positive each time I came back home and it helped me overcome my depression more.

It makes you appreciate home and your loved ones more.

Going to places start to make you realize that there’s no such people that can compare to the company of your family and friends back home but of course, you will probably also meet people who can come close to that. You will feel so much more thankful than you probably already are for the ones who’ve actually seen you grow and was there for you at home. Who knows if you’ll have so much more interesting stories to share with them when you get back!

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