Travelling is often one of the most popular things to do for leisure-adults often talk about travelling when they imply they need a break, and people who often travel to exotic places in movies and books are seen as 'cool' and as role models. No wonder travelling is so well liked-however, along with not being burdened by work, travelling provides more benefits than you think. It's also changed the world, revolutionised cultures, history and our society for the better and you'll find it helping your own state of mind and your future before you even know it. Yes, even something as easy and fun as travelling can help you that much! So when you have any sort of break, just try going anywhere you want or anywhere you can, and you'll see how much good exploring brings you.
Travelling is sure to improve your mood and gives you a well deserved breather-but even after your holiday you can still benefit greatly. Anywhere you travel, as long as there is something new to learn, you can be rewarded in the long term. Wherever you go, you bring along your own experiences and your own way of life as well as getting to see others'. Something 'normal' that you may be accustomed to, whether it be your environment or your food, can be seen as amazing and inspiring to others and vice versa. Even trivial things such as beauty standards can vary all around the world and there is always something fascinating and new to learn in every corner of the world, whether it be big or small. Learning about other people, cultures and environments can reward you in different ways-a job that requires knowledge of a certain country, an essay about a place you've visited before, learning a new language, writing a fiction book set in a certain city or even trying to come up with a new dish (and many more situations) can all be aided with travel experience. However, travelling can also do so much more than that. The beliefs and life lessons that you can learn from people who grow up in different places can remain with you for eternity, and you can compare different people to yourself and start to value parts of your life more when you see how others live. Reading a website about a certain dish or watching travel vlogs are far more different than going and experiencing it yourself. Even your own imagination can be stimulated by what you see, hear, smell and feel in an unfamiliar place. You might even be able to see or experience more than others, or notice more than they do. And that is one of the best parts of travelling that can stick with people for the longest of times, even when they forget their own name.
Not only does it significantly help yourself, but it's helped society and the human race ever since mere cavemen moved out from Africa into all different parts of the world millions of years ago. So many different parts of our daily life, politics, our cultures, and pretty much anything you can name has been influenced by travel. Inventions, animal breeds and foods, even fruits you find in your local supermarket such as bananas and pineapples, have spread all around the world and been developed and changed thanks to people who explored unfamiliar places and countries. The most important scientists who have made staggering contributions to things like biology or medicine did this by going to different places with different environments. Charles Darwin's evolution theory was supported by his research of animals on exotic islands, the useless and harmful cures of England from centuries ago were revolutionised thanks to travelling and meeting experienced Arab doctors, and different diseases have vaccines now because of scientists travelling and seeing how other people in other countries had cures-these are just a few of the uses travelling has brought to the world, and they have prevented so many possible deaths. Even Roald Dahl who traveled for work and eventually fought in the second world war in Africa has been able to write a successful book on his unusual experiences and the beauty of the country. Most of the time, even the scientists, doctors and biologists who did this for their work enjoyed the travels because of the new experiences they had and all the new sights they got to see. They were affected they same way travelling might affect you. Even you could change history just by seeing something new-it just takes a bit of exploration.
Of course, you might say it would be easy to just state this. "This is from your experience-what if I have a different mindset?" However, even scientific evidence supports the idea that travelling does you infinitely more good than bad, especially to your personality and to your mindset. A study from Rice University (along with Columbia and North Carolina University) revealed that people who live overseas for a long time develop 'self-concept clarity' who are more self aware and understand themselves better than others who have always lived in the same situation and can't see their growth as a human being. You don't have to be a university-level student to understand this. Anyone at all who's lived in two significantly different places for a long time can see this themselves developing this self-concept clarity as they can compare the two different places and be able to gain empathy for others. I've also experienced this, as I moved between two different places where the communities were made up of two completely different cultures-Vietnamese people and migrants to a more fortunate community made up of mainly Jewish and western people-and I could see how much I changed in different societies, and how others who had lived in both communities for their whole lives didn't have as much experience and awareness. I've also traveled far more than other people in my year group-my Maths class took a survey on how many countries out of Australia we had been in, and no one had surpassed 10 countries apart from me-who had answered around 21. In turn, I have more knowledge and background information on history and different cultures, and I know about different landmarks and cities more than the average. But this doesn't require incredible analyzing skills and to study for ages about other countries. Simply going someplace else and absorbing the information subconsciously does this to you, no matter who you are.
So in the end, travelling proves itself to be more than it seems and its rewards have surprisingly helped in all sorts of ways. Next time, try going to an unfamiliar country or a new city even within your own country and just relaxing and exploring the new surroundings. There is new potential wherever you can find new experiences, and who knows what you can be capable of? It just takes a bit of curiousness and interest, and a simple vacation will be able to change so much before you even know it.
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