How Traveling Encourages Personal Development

Traveling offers many outstanding benefits to a person. The experience of seeing new things, meeting new people, and experiencing new cultures opens up your mind to new ways of thinking. And the act of exploring helps you develop an awareness of your surroundings and encourages you to see the world in a different light. Let’s explore the ways traveling encourages self development.

Traveling helps you discover your true self

Self discovery is one of the most reported experiences of travelers. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a frequent traveler or once in a while kind of traveler, the opportunity of moving away from familiar environments can help you find yourself. Like our beliefs, our identities (who we are) or presumed identities (who we think we are) over time are shaped by our environments, the people around us and experiences we encounter daily. Experiencing life outside of these familiar factors can provide real insight and understanding of who we are during travel.

Group trips as well as solo trips offer this benefit of traveling. Within a new travel group, you have the freedom to present yourself however it feels true to you without having to live up to the expectations of people who have known you for a long time. It may even be an opportunity to express yourself freely which you might have to minimize at home. To learn more about how traveling helps you find yourself, read our guide here.

Traveling increases your environmental consciousness

Travel opens us up to experience life from a different perspective. The culture, lifestyle and struggles of a people in a place helps you identify with the new environment. Taking the opportunity to travel helps us move beyond focusing on how environmental issues might impact us personally, to thinking about how issues might affect us globally. When we travel, we tend to be more aware of our impact on the planet—and we're more likely to start making changes in our daily lives that support the environment.

Traveling ignites and improves your creativity

Traveling brings with it a lot of inspiration. For individuals in the creative industry, this will help you get out of your head and into your heart. As you connect deeper with yourself while on your trip and allow yourself to feel the emotions your destination emanates from within you, your creative juices start to flow. This will inspire you and your work during your trip and even when you return. Or maybe you've met someone who inspires you, or who challenges your way of thinking about things. Visiting historic sites and viewing masterful artwork can help us grow as creative individuals.

Traveling strengthens your independence

We are able to assess our strengths and weaknesses in different situations when we travel. This helps you develop a sense of independence and rely on yourself more than others. Knowing you have to be responsible for your decisions in a foreign country, you will get to learn how to survive and solve problems that may arise on your own.

Traveling boosts your self confidence

Traveling offers a wealth of experiences that will make you fall in love with life all over again, from climbing a volcano or mountain to admiring historical architecture and artwork to swimming in various waters and watching breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. You will feel fantastic knowing that you have brought so much wonder, love, and beauty into your own life. Even challenging travel experiences can boost your self-confidence. You can miss a train, get lost in a strange city, or misplace something important. Even though these incidents are annoying at the moment, you can always make things right. Using your own street smarts and your own instincts can get you out of sticky situations, and sometimes you can look back on those moments and laugh. Problem solving while traveling is not only a necessary skill, it also helps you gain confidence in your own abilities.

There are more benefits of traveling than listed above. While some are easy to document, others are left to be experienced. Beyond personal development, traveling can shift your perspective, broaden your horizon and help you discover who you are.

If you’re a first time traveler feeling uncertain about taking a chance here, check out this post on tips to enjoy and relax on your first trip.