Travelling: Your Mental Health Guide

Travelling and Mental Health'-- how are these two things connected? I suppose after reading the headline of this article, many of you had this question in your mind. Then let me help you to find your answer through my article 

Travelling: Your Mental Health Guide

Hiking is not just an adventure. It is definitely more than taking pictures, exploring new places, and having fun. While exploring new places and new people, you travel deep into nature's soul  until you discover the unexplored land inside you. Read the article to know how travelling can improve your mental health.

Nature never betrays the hearts that follow her

Before we move further, I would like to talk about my own travel experience. I will tell you why I adore every moment of it. From planning the trip to packing luggage and finally arriving at our desired location - each step is so endearing. There were many situations in my life where I was just a moment away from jumping off the edge. In moments like these, trekking helped me a lot to cope up with my mental health. Travel has the magical power to strengthen human relationships.

I often tour with my family and friends. Every journey takes me one step closer to their hearts, helping me create stronger bonds. These journeys have also helped me to identify and bind my relation with my own self. Every journey makes me calmer, composed, and stress-free. Maybe, the gently flowing river takes away all my stress and buries it into the deepest roots of gigantic mountains.

How can traveling improve your mental health?

I am gonna share with you some PROVEN ways how mental health can be improved by travelling. I have experienced that feeling and am sharing the same feeling to help you to understand that level of relief you get through travelling.

 Lowering your stress levels

Day-to-day stress can distract us from enjoying ourselves and finding meaningful things in life. Hence, taking a break from our stressful daily life is so important for our mental peace. Our mind needs to relax, and traveling is the best way to do so. Travelling provides happiness and leads to lower cortisol levels which makes us calm and composed. The spell-bound beauty and calmness of nature will engulf you and make you forget about things of the past. I remember the time I went to Dooars. The scenic beauty of the 'Gateway of North-east India and Bhutan' gave my eyes pleasure and made me the happiest. The elegance and ambience of Chapramari Wildlife sanctuary, Gorumara National Park, and Samsing tea garden made me happy.

 Enhance creativity :

Visiting a foreign place and immersing yourself in their local culture and environment can increase your cognitive flexibility. It can enhance your depth of thoughts, giving your creativity a good boost. If you want to expand your creativity, you have to immerse yourself in the culture of the new place. There is another incident I remember from my 'Dooars-diary'. I saw tribal dances in the forest of Lataguri that left me in awe of them. The folk tribal dance was so amazing that even after returning back from the trip, I couldn't restrain myself from learning those steps from the internet! Remembering the days of Rajgir(Bihar), where I visited the great Nalanda Mahavihara, I came to know about its ancient history. It helped me with my history knowledge (because it was under my 7th-grade history syllabus at that time). Creativity makes you productive and thus it can help you with your mental health.

 

 Boosting self-esteem and confidence

Exploring new places can also mean getting lost in the crowd, struggling with the foreign language, or any kind of cultural shock. All of which is challenging if you have anxiety. In that case, travel can be like your free therapy sometimes. While travelling, the smaller achievements can make someone feel overwhelmed if they are dealing with anxiety. For instance, I'm one of them who has anxiety issues. When I was crossing the Lakshman jhula (Haridwar), I felt overwhelmed as I have the fear of heights. That small achievement made me confident. Therefore hiking is capable of boosting your confidence, resulting in better mental health.

 Act of self-care

Self-love and self-care are the keywords when it comes to mental well-being. Sometimes when you are low, it's easy to feel undeserving of all the nice things in your life. But once you give yourself a chance to take a break and go out for a trip, it becomes an act of self-care. Though anxiety makes you feel you are non - worthy of all these efforts, planning a trip can be a good push to show yourself that you deserve all the love and happiness in the world. Give yourself some purpose. Planning a trip is so exciting. It gives you the freedom to do what you love, and it helps you practice living in the moment. 

Stay fit and healthy

Physical and mental well-being are well connected to each other. Tours and trips allow you to get out of your bed and stay fit. By exploring new places, you naturally stay active. Indulging in physical activities can boost your energy as well as your mood. So, are you ready to pack your bags, reach out for the sunshine and glow yourself up from within?

 These were some of the ways that made my mental health better. Through ups and downs in life, tours and trips can really help us to improve our mental health. Visiting and exploring a new place gives us an opportunity to throw all the toxicity and negativity around us. The great philosopher Saint Augustine said," The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page". I have understood this quote through my own experiences of traveling, even though I have so many places to visit in the future. 

As they say, You are made up of what your surroundings are, imagine yourself surrounded by the beauty of nature and the amount of freshness it gives you when that breeze of air passes through your heart!

~ Yours Sohini Chakraborty

 

 Here are few Reads as well as merchandise  you might need to take with you when you travel. And books are the best, if you are travelling alone.And one more interesting thing, a Travel Coupon! 

                                   

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