If you’ve never traveled then the world out there can seem incredibly intimidating. You hear these stories about people getting kidnapped, crime waves hitting foreign regions and natural disasters to boot and think ‘not for me, thanks’. And really, that’s an understandable response. All the same, if that’s how you’re looking at this, then boy are you missing out!
The truth is, it’s not half as dangerous out there as you might think it is. The main reason why there is such a big difference between how it is and how you perceive it as being is down to the modern news cycle. There are a bunch of channels competing for viewing numbers 24 hours a day. And disaster attracts more viewers than happy stories do. That’s just the way it is.
A much better way to know where to go is to look at how countries rank. Doing so will show you that the UK is at 74 and the US is at 84th place, with there being a host of other countries which are far safer.
Even better, if you do go you’ll find that you will learn invaluable skills which will help you throughout your life – including helping you manage dangerous and difficult situations. Here are some of the most noteworthy advantages.
Travel Boosts Your Emotional Intelligence
You’ve probably heard of IQ. Just as important for our success, however, is your EQ or emotional intelligence quotient. That defines how well you understand your own emotions and those of others. And that’s a big deal, as your emotions decide how you’ll react, while knowing the emotions of others will make it easier to react appropriately to them.
The reason that travel is such a great tool for growing your emotional intelligence is because it lets you realize why people feel the way they do. You see, people everywhere are driven by the same forces and drives. Sure, these things might have different names, wear different clothes and speak different languages, but deep down they are still the same.
The more you travel, the more obvious this becomes and the better you become at understanding where somebody is coming from – whether you speak their language or not. This, in term, makes you better at responding appropriately to what these people are doing. You know what people are really after, how they mean to get there and whether that will help or harm you.
Travel Will Make You More Creative
There’s no getting around it. Travel sparks creativity. This is mainly down to the way that travel makes you see things in a different light and from different angels. Why? Because culture is a box in which you reside. Even worse, when you don’t travel you don’t even realize the dimensions of that box and how it funnels your thinking. You end up thinking are black and white when in fact there’s a whole range of other colors they can be.
Travel breaks you out of that box. It allows you to realize how people think different, act different and have different values. This, in turn, allows you to understand the world’s many different colors that much better.
Even better, learn some different languages while you’re there. The shopping list of mental benefits that doing so has is just tremendous. As an extra bonus, a whole lot of employment options open up when you can translate to multiple languages.
It Makes You More Open Minded
In fact, travel affects a lot of the big five personality traits in a positive way. It makes you more open-minded, less neurotic and even boosts how agreeable you are. These are often incredibly useful traits, whether you’re trying to start a business or just get along with your friends and family.
What is just as true is that the people you meet on the road are also stronger in these attributes. And so, you’ll often in that even if they’re from the same area as you are, they’re more open minded and friendlier than the people you meet at home. This is because travelers self-select. Those who like it are more easy going, while those who don’t often aren’t.
It Makes You Understand What You Have
And finally there’s how it changed how you view home. This is not to be underestimated. You might think that you fully understand what you’ve got. The thing is, you probably don’t. Most us don’t appreciate what we’ve got until it’s gone. The great thing about traveling is that you can get something to go away for a little while and then return to it. That means you get the best of both worlds. You get to both experience the world without these things and then return to them when you realize how much you miss them.
From my own experience I can tell you that when you get them back – be it the love of a sibling or the enjoyment of a hot shower – these things are better than they’ve been in forever. And that, in fact, make it worth the time you spent away.
Author Bio:
Margaret Reid is a self-driven specialist who is currently working in the company The Word Point and trying to improve herself in the blogging career at Writersquad.co.uk. She is always seeking to discover new ways for personal and professional growth and is convinced that it’s always important to broaden horizons. That`s why Margaret develops and improves her skills throughout the writing process to help and inspire people.