It’s a long slow day at work, and the sun has been playing hard to get all day. I look around and notice all my colleagues staring into the abyss of their desktops. With economic progress and warped speed technological advances, shouldn’t our lives have gotten easier? Aren't the latest iPhones and gizmos with thousands of time-saving and productivity apps supposed make our lives smoother?
The problem is that time is moving faster than life. With economies growing and incomes rising, everyone’s time becomes more valuable. In this conundrum where we are earning more to spend, we fail to realise that that we are spending our valuable leisure time that we may or may not get in abundance in the future. Long hours, gizmos and the endless newsfeeds on social media are only exhausting our minds, crumbling our health and lowering our creativity.
The word travel has been travelling with us since the 14th century; our ancestors travelled across oceans for various reasons. However, today, travelling has changed. The central motivation around travelling is to experience something new, meet new people on our travels and wind down.
With the advancements in the world, come obstacles. Even if we decide on taking a holiday, the timing of our holiday plans with friends or families clash with work, and we tend to get nervous to travel solo. When we aren’t nervous, we’re lazy, and if we aren’t lazy, we’re unmotivated. Whatever the reason, everyone should travel solo at least once:
Solo travel pushes people beyond their comfort zones and brings out their inner explorer
The world will deliver experiences you least expect. You will discover interests you never knew you had and it will help you grow as a person.
Travel makes you smarter
It’s a cliché but it is truly common sense, and now there’s even a study to prove that. According to a psychological study at the Indiana University, travel or even planning travel and imagining yourself in an unfamiliar and distant location improves creativity and self-awareness.
Solo travelling empowers you
As a solo traveller, you will almost always be challenged with obstacles. The experience of overcoming these challenges will give you a heightened sense of empowerment.
Solo travel makes you younger
Travelling will make you happier, and with happiness comes energy and enthusiasm. Ask someone to guess your age the next time you travel.
Solo travel makes you independent, and can strengthen your problem-solving skills
Researching the basics like what & where to eat, booking accommodation, studying maps all helps in bringing out the inner partisan.
Solo travelling will help you make an extra effort to meet locals and other solo travellers
Travelling solo is great. However, sometimes you just want to meet new people. In your journeys, you will meet people from all aspects of life and ages that share the most amazing stories.
Travel makes you more productive
According to recent studies, countries that provide more days off generate higher levels of economic output. Austria, for example, has an average of 38 vacationing days and provides 85% of the GDP per hour worked as % of U.S.
Travel is the best medicine
Travelling keeps you young and healthier. The Global Commission on Aging and Transamerica Center, in partnership the U.S Travel Assn, has released research that shows that travel decreases risks of heart diseases and offers some physical and cognitive benefits as crossword or museum visits. It also suggested that after only two days of travel respondents saw significant drops in stress.