6 Mental Health Benefits of Travel

As I write this, I’m currently sipping a cappuccino aside an Amsterdam canal and reflecting on the many gifts and blessings this life has given me. While travel has always been an important part of my life, my adulthood has taught me that this form of respite has been essential to my long-term self care. Any vacation includes an investment of time, money, and energy that may be inaccessible to many people. But much like any investment into your personal wellbeing, travel proves itself to be a worthwhile expenditure. Read more below on how each adventure can benefit your mental health!

You Get a Break

This one may be obvious, but like any vacation, you can enjoy stepping outside of your normal routine and taking a break from everyday life. As a therapist, I’m a big fan of encouraging clients to give themselves permission to relax and unwind without guilt. Getting out of town can be the perfect way to leave those pressing obligations at home and allow yourself some respite from your daily demands.

Cognitive Flexibility

Speaking for myself, changes to routine can be stressful when you’re used to doing things the same way everyday. It’s even harder to change the way we think about things, which is often the focus of cognitive therapy. Travel, especially to other cultures, requires open mindedness, adaptability, and a willingness to learn new things. At home, it can be too easy to run on autopilot and avoid change, but that’s not exactly possible in a new environment. By exposing yourself to different cultures, languages, and social norms, traveling can improve your capacity for cognitive flexibility in other areas of your life as well.

Excitement Past, Present, and Future

If you think about it, traveling across borders transcends both time and space. The experience of booking a flight, planning a trip, and looking forward to your vacation can invoke positive feelings leading up to your departure. Then you get to enjoy the novelty, spontaneity, and overall fun of going on your trip. But the thrill doesn’t stop there. Looking back on your experience continues to provide joy through memories, photos, and stories. Wherever you go and whenever it may be, travel will continue to impact you.

Connecting with Others & Yourself

Traveling with friends, family, and partners can be an excellent way to create new memories together and strengthen your existing relationships. Additionally, solo-travel is a highly underrated way of seeing the world. When you travel alone, you have the opportunity to connect with yourself on a deeper level while choosing when you would like to be social. Whether you travel alone or with loved ones, you also have the opportunity to meet people from around the globe and form connections you wouldn't have otherwise. Since humans thrive through our relationships with one another, it’s no wonder how this aspect of travel can aid individual mental health.

Makes for More Meaning

We only live once and tomorrow is not promised. These facts are enough to invoke existential anxiety in anyone, but the preciousness of life reminds us to spend our time intentionally. Many people dream of seeing the world and being able to make these dreams a reality can be extremely fulfilling! Even if your trip isn’t what you were expecting, you still get to enjoy the sights, scents, tastes, textures, and sounds of a corner of the world that’s different from your own. Seeing the world means expanding your world, thereby helping you live a richer and more purposeful life.

Gratitude for Home

While some people view travel as a form of escapism, and it definitely can be, one of the best benefits of travel is the appreciation you gain for your everyday life. Even though it can be challenging transitioning back home after a vacation, there’s no better feeling than sleeping in your own bed again. Giving yourself an opportunity to miss your routine, your pets, your work, and everything else you needed a break from means that you can come home with a renewed eagerness to pick up where you left off.

All together, travel provides mental health benefits on both short and long-term bases. Seeing the world means: allowing yourself rest and pleasure, shaking up rigid patterns and beliefs, invoking positive feelings before, during, and after each adventure, bonding with others, creating opportunities to live more fully, and appreciating what we already have at home. With so many remarkable benefits, making regular vacations a part of your lifestyle is certainly a worthwhile investment into your personal wellbeing.