Today’s post is gonna be a rather personal and different from what I usually talk about on the blog. As some of you may know, I was struggling with a minor depression in the first couple of months of 2015, which resulted in me deciding to move out of my beloved apartment and study from home. Today I’m feeling great, and I believe that the reason why I’m feeling better is because I took the time to travel so much last year. Here are my few tips on how travel can help you fight depression.
Get out of your comfort zone
Many people find that when travelling you might end up in situations that are very out of your comfort zone. Whether it being through something thrill seeking like bungee jumping, paragliding, or riverrafting, or simply being in a country where you don’t know the language or anyone around you, you’re almost 100% certain that you’ll gross a line or two when travelling. In these situations you cannot just crawl back in your bed, which I definitely would do back home. Instead you just have to face your fears, and stop over-thinking – just do it, and after you will actually be super proud of yourself when you realize that you’ve done something that you wouldn’t have done in the past. I believe that these kind of experiences are what makes us feel alive, and as scary as some things may be, it might turn out that we actually really enjoy it. In my case, I’ve always liked the comfort of my own home, but I still decided to study and intern abroad in places where I didn’t know anyone, not even the language. Turns out that I really loved it, and now I’m already wanting to go abroad again. After having completed one challenge the next one doesn’t seem as scary because you know that satisfying feeling of overcoming it.
Learn to appreciate what you have
Although I think that exploring new places is very important to anybody, with or without a depression, I actually think it’s even more important to learn to appreciate what you already got. Either when visiting third world contries where they got nothing when you got so much, or simply by exploring your own backyard. I’ve been pretty bad at this in the past, but since I started dating Ollie, who wanted to explore Denmark, I started to realize how lucky I am to live in a place like Denmark. I feel like many people tend to take their own home for granted, and only try to seek to leave whenever they get the opportunity. But it’s still so important to appreciate your home. By changing this mindset, I’ve definitely learned to not only love Denmark again, but also find more meaning and happiness in the little things when I’m not travelling.
Now, I’m not saying that these few tips are gonna work for you. We are all different, and some things that work for some, might not work for other people. In my case I just realized the importance of changing out my routine and start living in and appreciating the moment.
What about you? Has travelling helped you find yourself again?
2 svar til “HOW TRAVEL CAN HELP YOU FIGHT DEPRESSION”
getting out of the comfort zone is easier said than done but once you finally do it it feels amazing!
Pam xo/ Pam Scalfi♥
Thank you for such a wonderful post, I couldn't agree more with your thoughts, love your blog xx
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