Travel as hard as you can
Just planning a vacation keeps your mind off things that can stress you out. Dreaming about where you are going to go and what you will do when you get there can take your mind off pressing issues that cause sleeplessness and tension.
Here are the reasons why travelling makes you happier:
- Being away makes you appreciate home and family: Being away from things we often take for granted — family, close friends, home — makes us appreciate them more.
- You find self-confidence by dealing with unexpected situations: There comes a time when everyone must deal with an unexpected situation when they are on the road. Whatever happens, there is a way around the problem and knowing that you can deal with these situations is a big boost to self-confidence and therefore your happiness.
- You make new friends: It’s much easier to make new friends on the road than it is at home, where people are less inclined to chat to strangers on a cab or strike up conversation in a coffee shop. When people are away from home, there seem to be less boundaries to cross and making friends becomes much easier.
- Getting some ‘you’ time: Our breathing space is often lost in our usual day-to-day existence. Travel helps revive that space. Having a moment to take advantage of peace and quiet and to simply ‘be’ allows us to let go of stress and tension and just enjoy being in the moment.
- Sunshine while travelling generally puts us in a better mood: You enjoy and feel sunshine more when you are travelling. And of course sunshine and warmth generally place us in a much better mood. Though, this is more of a short-term boost, but a healthy glow makes everyone feel better and that lasts for a few weeks even after the trip is over.
Says Sir Richard Burton, The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.
So aside from making you happier in the short-term, travelling can make you a much more contented and relaxed person in the long run, too. Past travels leave us with the memories and personal skills – such as confidence, broad-mindedness, friends and a more worldly perspective — and that’s exactly the reason why travelling makes you a happier person.