Travel

5 Significant Reasons Why Travelling Makes You Happier

Need more persuasion to pack your bags and set off on the adventure of a lifetime?  We’ve compiled 5 reasons why traveling improves your overall health, happiness, and wellbeing.

1.Self-Confidence & Self-esteem

No matter how organized you are or how much planning you do, there comes a time when things don’t exactly go to plan. Whether you miss a connecting flight or find yourself lost without Wi-Fi, it’s only natural to panic and worry. But ultimately, finding your way out of a sticky situation can improve your problem-solving skills, in turn, boosting self-confidence and overall happiness. Self-confidence is closely linked to the psychological concept of self-esteem and self-esteem is largely recognized as the key to happiness. So next time you find yourself in a predicament, think of the learning process that comes from solving it. 

A girl with her arms out looking confident

2. Gratitude & Appreciation

Travelling can evoke many emotions. The most common is an appreciation for your home country, friends, and family. Appreciation for the smaller and less noticed everyday actions can lead to an overwhelming sense of appreciation. Appreciation and gratitude whilst traveling can increase your overall happiness, the effects stay with you once you’re home, too. 

“As such, gratitude creates positive emotions, like joy, love, and contentment, which research shows can undo the grip of negative emotions, like anxiety. Fostering gratitude can also broaden your thinking and create positive cycles of thinking and behaving in healthy, positive ways.”  ~ Melanie Greenberg Ph.D

A man sits on a rock staring out at rolling clouds pondering something

3.Meaningful Friendships

World travel is the perfect way to meet like-minded people. Social interactions, the face-to-face kind, are an important factor in human well-being and happiness. Whether it’s asking for advice from a local or meeting a fellow countryman in a bar. If you’re socially shy, one great topic to talk about is travel! Travelers will have many stories to share and reminisce about. Plus, once you’ve been traveling for long enough, you’ll have exciting stories of your own to share! You’ll definitely pick up some tips and spread your knowledge to the next person.

friends running into the sea on a hot summers day

4. Mindfulness

There have been several studies showing that social media platforms are linked to depression and anxiety. With Wi-Fi being hard to find on the road, your time on social media will greatly decrease when traveling. Sometimes you have to wait for the luxury of decent Wi-Fi, meaning you can’t upload your travel pics to Instagram on the road. Waiting a while pushes you to savor and think about your experience on a deeper level. We’re not saying you have not quit social media, but spending less time scrolling can have a positive impact on your wellbeing.  

“I admit I was addicted to social media. I was obsessed with likes & comments. Going so far as to delete a post if it had less than 20 likes on Facebook. When I traveled South America, I decided to quit social media. Most places had dodgy Wi-fi, especially throughout Columbia. Honestly, I just got used to it, when Social Media’s not thrust in your face, you just forget about it. You stop caring and live in the moment.” ~A.Worrall Michigan, USA. Hanna Facebook Follower.

 

A backpacking woman with her hands in the air stands on the edge of a cliff

5.Creativity

An exciting study from The Academy of Management found that people who worked overseas were overall more creative than those that didn’t. A combination of different factors contributed to what the study calls ‘Cognitive Flexibility.’ Cognitive Flexibility arises when you force yourself to adapt to cultural differences and as a result, this increases your creativity. A creative mind is a happier mind.

“I knew after traveling I couldn’t go back to sitting at a desk full-time. Travelling has given me the motivation to work for myself. I’m now freelance travel writing and designing my own range of travel journals. I have reinvented myself due to traveling!” L.Humphrey, U,K. Hanna Facebook Follower.

A man perched on a mountain is drawing something in the distance with a pen and paper

It would appear that traveling definitely makes you a happier human being. The mind is challenged and pushed beyond how it would be sitting at a desk for 40 hours a week. Likewise, there’s plenty of opportunities to create meaningful relationships, live in the now, and appreciate home that little bit more. Just be prepared for the post-travel blues…

 

Make sure to check out Hanna’s blog to find travel inspiration for your next trip!

 

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