“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”
– anonymous
There are not enough words to emphasize the reasons why you should travel, alas I can shed light on some of the hands-down most important aspects that changed my life.
I can say that for me, personally, living abroad offered me the chance to see the world differently.
It changed me from a boy who was living his life in total unawareness of what was going on around him, into a man that can make conscious decisions and see things for more than what they seem to be.
Travelling turned my life around 180 degrees and with this new perspective, I soon started to detach myself from things and people which were dragging me down, and bring into my life only positive and compatible situations, people or opportunities – compatible with my continuous evolutionary path. (and I am not referring to Charles Drawing’s evolution, mind you).
Here are the 5 reasons, as promised:
1. The Reset Function of Our Brain
It is related to how our brain functions.
When you go abroad and start to live a different life style, see and feel different ways of thinking or adapt to different situations which are required of you to do, your brain ends up “flipping”.
In other terms, your brain starts to retune itself from the self-imposed limited believes that you had at the time that you lived in your own country and followed a specific cultural path.
It then starts to re-analyse its priorities.
It no longer recognizes what it did know as the only truth and way of living and thus this lack of constraint allows your brain to expand and make room for different perspectives.
You could compare your brain with a super computer which has been running Windows 98’ on it since 1998.
All of a sudden you try to install a new 2015 software which cannot run on the Windows 98’ platform and will thus cause a crash of your system.
You soon call a technician and his solution is to install a fresh version of the latest Windows 8.
You find yourself with a new computer on your hands, but with an empty hard drive, no programs or anything else installed on it.
You soon start to look here and there and populate your computer with new programs, as you would your brain with new and fresh concepts and ideas.
2. Appreciating Life More
When you start to live in a small enclosed room and you are most of the time all by yourself, you soon realise the importance of other elements in your life which you did not pay attention to before.
Having to go by with the minimum at your disposal, you will soon realise life is more than you knew it was. You will let go of materialistic dreams and focus more on the present. You will sit down and realise you’ve been chasing the wrong things all your life.
You will start to appreciate. To appreciate life.
You will appreciate your home country even more, you will be more kind to people around you.
You will sit down on the grass and contemplate your existence in this unexplored part of the world, and if you are lucky, even go further and contemplate your existence in this universe.
You will definitely pay attention to the small bug walking on the ground.
3. Quality time with yourself
Being thrown outside of your comfort and with no friends around, you will have the chance that over 80% of everyone you know doesn’t have: To spend time with yourself.
Or how I like to call it: to have an Interview with Your Consciousness , a chance to explore yourself.
As mentioned in a previous article: “one has seen nothing until one has come face to face with oneself.”
You will find out your deepest wishes and dreams. Your inner self, or consciousness as I like to call it, will give you answers and let you know on secrets about yourself you never knew you had.
If this won’t change your ways, then I don’t know what will.
Oh, and given the solitary way of your life, you will get to read more. Read books.
One of the most important activity for your soul and brain, as described in this article.
4. Giving-up Habits and Being more Easy going
You will become more easy-going and as I said before, you will let go of the heavy chains which keep you anchored in an addictive vicious circle of materialism and useless worries.
You will give up most of your habits.
Better said, you won’t have any more habits at all. You will take life just as it comes and you will soon realise it is easier, more fun and enjoyable this way.
What are habits anyway? Just some routines that we cling to in a desperate attempt to not alter our current comfortable and mediocre situation. It’s the fear of letting external intruders destroy your self-created safe retreat which could only be compared to a self-imposed prison of the mind.
5. Always learning new things
If learning is not by far the most important aspect of the idea of living abroad, then I don’t know what is.
If, as I said above, reading or seeing things differently won’t make you consider yourself a person who learned more in 1 year than during his whole life-time on his couch in his home town, then this will surely change your perspective.
Just think of how many cultures you will encounter in your travels. People with their own vision of the world, their own concepts, foods, clothing style and way of speaking will be the deal breaker of your limited way of thinking.
Since it’s impossible to summarize in words the things you learn when you live abroad, I can however, give you some personal examples.
– I’ve learned to become more tolerant towards other people. Not only racial and cultural based, but most importantly: I’ve learned to be understanding of other people’s choices and realise everyone is right in their own way, no matter what your brain might tell you.
– My feelings towards art has changed, making me appreciate it more. Decorating, buying clothes or picking up tomatoes from the food market has made me more sensitive to details. You could say I have improved my taste.
– Relations with people – I came to realise that people are like leaves in the wind. You have to let them go their own way, as if carried by random winds. Openness towards people is just but one thing I’ve learned. You have to listen to them, accept their opinions and understand that every single person in this world is your friend.
– I have learned that there can be art in anything that we do, be it cooking, playing music, walking or laying down on the grass. You can make any activity an art and if that is not what life is about, enjoying every single element of your day to day activity, then I don’t know what is.
If your day to day comfort, routines habits or ideas have kept you stuck in the chair of your mind, then it is time to get up, renounce everything that currently has a grip over you, and start walking, running and finally jumping into the world which awaits you.
A World of Wonder, Awe and Unexplored Potential.
I bid you farewell travels,
Vlad
