How Travel Can Change Your Mindset
For the person who has never experienced travel, there may be a constant inquiry in their minds about its appeal. It can be hard to imagine what lies in store in other cultures, so the mind starts to fill in the countless blanks with cautionary tales and horror stories until all curiosity has been extinguished and only the fear of travel remains. This is exactly why a person should embrace travel before their perspective becomes so rigid that there is no longer any flexibility for searching and discovery.
If you’re at all wondering what travel has to offer, here’s a brief review of ways that taking a voyage can change your outlook on the world and your place in it. Hopefully, it may fan your spark of curiosity into a burning interest in travelling that will take you places you never thought you’d visit.
Awakening senses
Finding yourself in a different culture than your own brings new sensitivity to your perceptions. No longer surrounded by the familiar, your senses open wider to take in everything this new world has to offer. New sights and sounds surround you until there’s a switch in your attitude from cautious to curious, alarmed to accepting. You are now in a land where mysteries still exist and await your exploration. Without your home and possessions enclosing you, you’ll have to decide if there’s nothing protecting you, or if there’s nothing standing in your way.
How you look at others
Above all the differences in cultures, travelling can lay out the similarities between us all, the things that we have in common across the spectrum of societies you’ll experience. You’ll notice that while many aspects are indeed diverse from the place you call home, things like family, friendship, and love hold a special place in people’s hearts the world over. You’ll learn to see the similarities between us through the differences in cultures. The strongest effects of travel breaks down borders in our minds and renders whole countries down to individuals the same as ourselves.
How you look at yourself
And lastly, travelling may change how you view yourself. With no expectations to live up to in this new place, you may discover parts of your personality you never knew existed. A certain taste in food, music, theatre, or anything else may be found while you’re allowing yourself to try new things. You’ll have to talk to people you’ve never met. You’ll deal with situations completely different to anything you’ve experienced. And then you’ll start to wonder, if I can make it in this new culture, what else am I capable of? You may return home with newfound confidence in yourself and your abilities.
The most important things you’ll bring back from travelling won’t be lying in your suitcase or backpack. The experiences you’ll create will continue to shape your mindset long after the ink has dried on your passport. Many people buy things they think will change how the world views them, but only travel can change how they view the world.
