Being on the road can sometimes feel like the Hunger Games, except less people die. You’re constantly pushing your limits, learning new things about yourself, adapting to solve problems and you almost always need a shower. Surviving the problems that traveling throws at you requires creative thinking and builds resilience.
These experiences can change your outlook and give you the vision and confidence to try something new. Maybe you’ll return from your travels with ideas that will help you start a side hustle. It’s also possible to come home with new found skills that you’ll fall back on later in life. I’m not talking about the bamboo weaving you learned in Chiang Mai, although I’m sure there is a spot on Etsy for that. I’m talking about the problem solving and grit you developed while pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in Bolivia. You may even discover opportunities while you’re exploring, which lead you in directions that never return home.
Not every traveler will return home with a different outlook or new skill. Some people arrive home, book in for a liver transplant and then resume their normal life while trying to shed the ‘Heathrow Stone’. As with any personal growth, you have to be willing to allow yourself to change.
Here are some things you can do if you are keen to discover a different side of yourself and develop a fresh mindset while traveling.
Off we go!
Talk less, ask questions, listen more
Travellers enjoy telling you what route they are heading in and where they’ve been. Everybody is competing in the Travel Olympics to be the best traveller. The chat is the same on every long distance bus journey around the world. It gets old.
I once went 3 days in Thailand without speaking to anyone, because the only way anybody started a conversation was with a lacklustre“where are you from?“. It’s the equivalent of starting a job interview with “so tell me about yourself “. I then met 2 other travelers who had also gone at least a week without talking to anybody, because of the same reasons. We hung out and tried to persuade ourselves that we weren’t judgmental.
For any personal growth to happen at home or on the road it requires listening. It’s way more interesting when fellow travelers start a conversation with a fun or random question. It’s even better when they show interest in a response.
If there isn’t anything to say, then try your best to not say it. Just sit with your thoughts, because this is where ideas and creativity come from. When you spend time thinking you can physically rewire you brain. Deep thought creates new neural pathways, which can only be a good thing for developing creative thinking.
In the words of Depeche Mode, enjoy the silence. It’s golden. You’ll be able to hear your thoughts, other peoples perspectives and you’ll be able to tap into the creative ideas when they spark.
Get out of your comfort zone
Many travellers prefer to talk to and travel with people from their home country. Sticking close to people you are most comfortable with is like traveling with your favourite teddy. It feels safe and familiar, but it’s a lost opportunity get to know people that you wouldn’t normally interact with. These interaction lead to a better understanding of other cultures, which can lead to a change in thinking or at least fire a different synapse that often lays dormant.
As Mark Twain said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness”. However, it’s not the action of catching a bus or a plane that will broaden your mind, it’s the getting out of your comfort zone and leaving your crew behind that will.
Make yourself available, so that you can mix with people from all over the world. You can do this by spending some time solo. This leads me on to my next point.
Disclaimer: I’m actually not good at talking to new travelers. I’m an introvert and probably the least lonely person in the world. I worry about how happy I am on my own. However, when I do make an effort with new people it’s often worth it, as long as they don’t make small talk. #sorrynotsorry
Travel solo, at least once in your life
As I’m an introvert, this is easy advice to give, but I’ll let you into a secret. I get extremely nervous every time I go on a solo trip. If you ask any solo traveler they’ll probably tell you the same thing. There is a difference between a solo traveler and somebody that never fulfils their dreams of traveling. The latter allows fear to keep them from boarding the plane.
Pushing your limits and going way beyond your comfort zone is where the real growth happens. Hit the road solo and you’ll be surprised by how much you can handle. It almost feels as though you’ve collected a superpower, because self confidence and resilience increase so quickly.
Another reason to travel on your own is that nobody knows you. In daily life, although we try not to, we act a certain way with our boss, another way with close colleagues and friends. Everybody gets a slightly different version of you. When you travel alone, everybody you meet gets the real, organic deal. It’s a great way to discover who you are when you spend a few months being yourself. You do you.
Get some sleep and make the most of each day
Despite all the early starts to catch a sunrise or go on a hike, I sleep much better and feel healthier when I travel. After a busy day I often feel what I call ‘happy tired’ and drift off into a deep, contented sleep.
Some people treat traveling like a big party. If a lot of your time on the road is spent drinking or recovering, then you’re not developing much more than a keg belly and an ibuprofen dependency. Traveling and being a tourist are two very different experiences.
Spending most of your travels inebriated, is like traveling with your eyes closed. Have a few drinks, but try to experience some of your trip sober. You can drink when you get home, but you can’t make up for that time that you missed the boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef, because you slept through your alarm.
They say youth is wasted on the young. Traveling is too, sometimes. It’s hard to be the only one not getting wasted every night, but creative thinking comes from a clear open mind. Move yourself away from the crowds and your thinking will move with you too.
Travelling can be the perfect opportunity for growth, new ideas and change, but you have to be open to it and actively seek it.
