Someone once asked me why I love to travel so much and it took me a long time to come up with a good answer. There’s just so many reasons! One of the reasons is because I learn so much about myself through the process of exploring new places. It’s funny cause when you’re traveling, it never occurs to you at the time that you’ll run into yourself as well. You’re far too distracted with seeing famous attractions, wandering through unknown streets, and trying out different foods that you don’t even realize that you changed. It’s not until you actually come back home and look in the mirror, do you realize that there’s something different about you. Try it next time you come back from a trip! I promise you there will be something different, maybe not in the way you look but in the way you feel. Anyways, here are 10 things that I learned about myself through traveling and the ways that I ended up changing because of it.
#1.) I’m Braver Than I Thought I Would Be – Every once in a while when I’m walking around in a new city, usually at quiet hours, it occurs to me that I’m quite brave. I never associated myself with being brave before, I’m always anxious and paranoid about things. All of this seemed to change once I started having the intense need to travel. I wanted to travel more than I wanted to stay in the same place therefore I pushed whatever anxiety I had to the back of my mind.
#2.) I Need to Work On My Patience – Who said everything that you learn about yourself would be good? I never knew how much I needed to work on my patience until I started getting frustrated over delayed flights and waiting in line for gelato for too long. These days, I try to take a deep breath and calm myself down before I start getting frustrated and thinking negatively.
#3.) I Need to Choose My Travel Companions More Wisely – Traveling is all fun and games until you get frustrated with your traveling companion. I can’t tell you how much that makes your trip less enjoyable! This is why I’m eager to try solo travel so I can learn more about myself and to see if I do better by myself.
#4.) Wait, I’m Actually…Confident?! – I can’t help it, I’m an introvert and confidence doesn’t seem to mix well with introverts. However when I travel, it all seems to change. I have no choice but to be confident when asking locals for directions or when meeting new people. You slowly learn to be confident and then you take that confidence home with you. It’s such a great souvenir from the trip, don’t you think?
#5.) I’m Satisfied with My Life – I’m someone who complains about my life a lot and forgets to be grateful for all the things that I do have. Once you travel and see how other people’s lives are like, you realize how grateful you should be for even having the opportunity to travel the world. Not everyone gets that opportunity especially at my age so I’ve learned to be thankful for it. Sure my life may not be rich and glamorous but I’m satisfied with what I got and that’s all that matters.
What have you learned about yourself through traveling? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time lovelies,
-Ruya
