How Travel Can Save Your Life

Often we cannot comprehend the impact that travel has on our lives until we have traveled and seen its life-changing effects on us in person. In this article, you will discover how travel can save your life in many ways.

Travel can save your life emotionally, mentally, and physically. Your overall well-being and perspective will be improved. Travel can save you from disease as well as from the limitations of your current perspective, which can keep you feeling stuck and disempowered in your life.

Travel can save your life through disease prevention, shifting your perspective, nourishing yourself in areas of your life that you haven’t paid attention to, and getting you into a more balanced and lively environment.

5 Main Ways Travel Can Save Your Life 

Travel can affect us all differently, and more often than not, for the better. Travel can put us outside of our comfort zone and normal routine and open us up to more joy, well-being, and freedom in our life, which is what we all need to thrive.

We can rediscover our zest for life and remember how to truly live and ultimately come back to what is most important to us.

Travel may save some people emotionally – from feeling depressed and anxious to clear and calm. It can save people mentally – from living in the past and the future to living in the present moment. It may save one physically – from disease to health and harmony.

Travel can save your life in each person’s own unique way, it will give you the remedy you need.

Let’s discover some ways travel can save our lives.

1. Travel Can Aid In Disease Prevention

According to The World Health Organization (WHO), 745,000 people died in 2016 from heart disease and stroke from working long hours. In comparison to those who worked 35-40 hours a week, those working 55 hours or more a week had a 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease.

Results showed that the most affected people were those who were living in South East Asia and the Western Pacific and were middle-aged or older men. 

Two ways that working long hours contribute to poor health outcomes include:

• Direct physiological responses to stress
• More likely to adopt health-harming behaviors such as less sleep, alcohol use, tobacco use, and having an unhealthy diet. 

This shows us how important taking time off work is as the diseases that are formed through people in stress and in constant work mode kill many people. It is a common occurrence, and it is clear that more people need to take their work and life balance more seriously.

In turn, taking time off to travel, whether it be to relax and rejuvenate or to go on an adventure and explore can literally save your life as you give yourself time to come back into balance and health in a non-physical and physical way.

2. Travel Can Shift Your Perspective

When you travel, whether it’s within your country or in another country, you will get out of your normal work routine and be able to welcome a new state of being. You will witness other people living their life in perhaps a more relaxed and joyful way. You will see how it is possible to live life differently compared to being a workaholic or stuck in unhealthy patterns. 

You can see what is possible and thus start to consider your own life and what could be implemented to ensure you live a happy and healthy life. You may see people with less money, but they appear to be so wealthy in a different kind of way. You see them smiling and feeling blessed and grateful for the day and their life. 

You have a shift in perspective as you realize money is not the answer, stress is not the answer, and you realize that there is another way to live your life. A shift in perspective is all you need to go forward seeing differently and doing differently in your life.

Travel enables you to break out of the box you have put yourself in and experience the freedom, happiness, and joy that is always available to you on a daily basis but you never noticed it as you were so focused on the so-called more important things.

3. Travel Allows You To Nourish Your Soul

When you take the time to travel, you realize how good it is for you, and how nourishing it feels. You live more in the present moment and take each moment as it comes instead of having your focus on the past or on the future, which stops you from enjoying the now.

The Journal Of Positive Psychology reports similarities between taking a vacation and meditation, with reports finding that they both are associated with increased mindfulness and higher levels of wellbeing.

You stop living on auto-pilot and doing the same things and instead are receptive to new ideas and activities which can allow a sense of inspiration and wellbeing to emerge. When you are heading back from your trip, you may realize how much you needed the break away from work and you know what has been missing from your life.

You may notice how healthy and peaceful you feel and want to make some changes when you get back into your normal day-to-day routine. From your travels, you may have realized that you need to have a lifestyle change. Work may be a priority for you, but it is not everything. 

Travel can save your life when it brings you back to what you have been craving in your life all along. It may be a feeling of peace and contentment, it may be joy and happiness, and it may be adventure and spontaneity. Whatever it is, it will be unique to you and you will realize how important it is to you and also how easy it can be to get caught up in the busyness of life.

From this, we can see how travel can save your life by giving it the nourishment that it needs on a mind, body, or spirit level so then you can go forward continuing to fill up your own cup so you can live a fulfilling and thriving life.

4. Travel Gets You Out Of The Office And Into Nature

Traveling will enable you to be in a variety of natural environments. As you spend time in nature, you will notice the difference in how you feel compared to being stuck in your house or in an office. 

A scientific report shows that spending at least 120 minutes per week in natural environments is associated with well-being and good health. A natural environment could be a beach, a park, a forest, and more! 

So often we can think in order to have a sense of well-being, we need to earn it and work hard for it but with something as simple as traveling and taking time in nature you will find that you naturally feel more balanced and a sense of wellness. 

We all know that stress kills, therefore we need to start thinking about how we can not just cope with stress, but instead cultivate more peace, joy, and freedom in our lives so we don’t get stressed in the first place.

Something as simple as spending time in nature or having your feet on the grass in your garden can save your life and impact you in such a positive way.

5. Travel Can Support You During Life Changes

You often hear people say that travel has helped them find themselves. People can go through big life transitions such as the loss of a job, a divorce, the death of a loved one, traumatic events, and more that can cause people to want to leave their current environment.

They may want to get away and the opportunity to travel allows them to do something for themselves and to figure out what they want out of life. Travel can enable people to go with the flow and live more fully in the present moment and can be very healing.

When you spend time by yourself as you travel after a big life change, it can help you process everything that you have been through. You have the time and space to listen to your heart, feel your emotions, and trust in yourself no matter what you have gone through.

You may also meet other travelers or people as you travel that can offer you so much kindness and support even though you just met them. If you are tending to a broken heart, you can find some goodness in humanity and restore your faith that there are kind and loving people out there. 

Traveling can save you as you realize there is such a big world out there and there are so many experiences and opportunities to be had. Wherever you travel, you can get through anything and you see how some experiences in life may seem to break you in order for you to crack open wider to the fullness of life that is here for you.

The Increase In Solo Travel

The increase in people traveling alone can show how travel is quite a personal experience. From 2016 to 2019, solo travel has increased by 131%. There is an increase in not only the younger generation but also the older, but it seems solo travel is the most popular among women.

The table below shows statistics from Agoda in 2018 showing why people wanted to travel solo. The majority of them wanted to travel alone to relax and reduce stress. This shows the significance of stress in people’s lives and how travel assists in reducing it.

Source:

The participants of his survey also said that they would also like to gain some other skills and independence. Therefore, we can see how travel can enhance our lives in many ways. We may travel solo with one intention in mind but actually gain so much more than that. 

Whether we want to travel to relax or we wish to exit out of our normal life and experience something new, we can come back from traveling and feel renewed and gain valuable experiences that will support our overall well-being and save our zest for life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Is Traveling Important For Humans?

Traveling is important for people because it allows us to see different cultures, and places and see how other people live and what exists in the world. In turn, this allows us to widen our perspective and have compassion and understanding toward other people that may differ from our own culture, country, and way of life. 

Does Travel Make Us Happy?

Travel can enhance our well-being and happiness. We can have new and happy experiences and memories and experience the joy of living fully in the present moment. Even just planning a trip can make us feel happy and excited.

How Does Travel Affect An Individual’s Life?

Travel can allow you to experience a range of experiences and situations. You can learn so much as well as grow as a person. You will discover new things about yourself and see how other people live, which can humble you and make you appreciate what you have.

Final Words

Overall, travel can save you because of the effects it has on your overall health and wellbeing. Traveling can save your life as you become more present and inspired, and leave the stress and your fixed mindset at home.

If you feel unfulfilled or feel ready to embark on a new chapter in your life, give traveling a go!