Until recently, the world and all it’s different places, cultures and people have been easily accessible to most of us. Although there have been certain restrictions since the appearance of the Coronavirus, travel is still an important longing for many. If it is about a weekend getaway just across the border, a city trips, (mini) sabbatical, or moving somewhere towards the end of the world, travel is irreversibly intertwined in our lives. But what can it even bring us?
A new view on life
Buying a house, working in an office, going out for dinner…things we might not think twice about because they are…normal. And yet, normal can mean something entirely different for somebody else. Different people have different lives. And sometimes, we are so set on what our own normal is, that we don’t even (dare) to think about what else is out there.
The guide who spends his working days hiking in the mountains, the couple who moved to Sri Lanka to start a slower life, the street artist living in a different city every year. Meeting different kinds of people, with different beliefs and habits, seeing different environments and ways of life will unavoidably make you think about your own, and possibly even question it.
“No one will protect what they don’t care about: and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
Get to know a different you
A different you or the real you? Sounds cheesy? Maybe, but think about it first. Who are you when taken out of your usual environment, when stripped of all the things that (you think) make you who you are? Without your job, your friends, your partner, your hobbies.
What do you like to do and what kind of people do you want to surround yourself with? Your environment can have a big influence on who you are or believe yourself to be. There might be different sides to you that you haven’t discovered yet.
Appreciation
“No one will protect what they don’t care about: and no one will care about what they have never experienced.” Wise words by the legend himself, Sir David Attenborough.
It is natural for humans, to protect what we love. Which is one of many reasons why it is important to get out into the world and into nature. Explore and discover new landscapes, mountains, oceans, plants. See animals in their natural environment and you will develop a new appreciation for the natural world around you.
On the other hand, traveling will also show you different ways and standards of living, which might as well let you appreciate everything you have and are given back home.
What else?
Surf & Yoga retreat in Sri Lanka
Linger longer: let’s talk slow travel
How spending time at a Buddhist monastery in Nepal changed my outlook on life & happiness
