Have you ever felt that things are moving so fast you’ve left a part of you behind in the rush to keep up? That life is something that’s happening to you rather than something you’re participating in? Or looked in the mirror and barely recognised the person staring back?

It’s easy to get washed away in the riptide of life, sometimes it just takes over. And when that happens it can leave you wondering who you really are. Travel is an awesome way to get a bit of your true self back. Here’s how it can help you be more you.

Helps you destress

Stress has a way of transforming us into a completely different version of ourselves, often one that we’re not too happy with. Often it creeps up without us even noticing until it’s a crushing force weighing heavy on your head.

A trip or vacation provides the perfect opportunity to get away from whatever it is that’s applying that pressure. Simply moving location can often help to alter your mindset and see what you need to do to remedy the causes of that stress with more clarity.

Gets you out of your comfort zone

A craving for security is a natural inclination. But in order to grow as a person it’s essential to take yourself out of your comfort zone from time to time. Fresh and challenging travel experiences will teach you new things about yourself and help reaffirm positives you were already aware of.

Sure, pushing yourself beyond that safe little bubble you’ve created will make you vulnerable. But it will also excite you like nothing else and ultimately provide you with a huge sense of pride and achievement.

Gives you a sense of freedom

The constraints and norms of everyday life can have a negative effect on how you express yourself, even making you feel caged in. It can govern everything from how you dress to what you do in your spare time.

Travelling allows you to break free of those external expectations allowing you to behave in whatever way makes you feel most free. Wear whatever the hell you want, behave as outrageously as you care to. Even a short period of throwing caution to the wind can help you rediscover your individualism.

No one has any preconceived ideas about you

For most people, at least a part of their sense of who they are comes from how their friends and family view them. But this can mean that you get stuck in a rut of doing what’s expected rather than what you want.

When travelling, you’re meeting new people with no preformed ideas or expectations. You can start to make changes to your life without judgment or criticism and start to become the person you want to be rather than the person people expect you to be.

Gives you time to think

More often than not, time alone is the best way to start reconnecting with yourself again. Time to do things you don’t usually get the opportunity to like reading a book from cover to cover in one sitting. Time to simply relax without any distractions. Time to concentrate solely on you.

A travel adventure could be just the break you need to give you time to think and evaluate your life. You can use this time to really work on yourself. Build your mental resilience, get your creative juices flowing again or work on boosting your productivity.