I am missing travel today. I’ve missed it a lot throughout the pandemic, but more so today – maybe because the end in sight is getting closer and hopefully by the end of this year international travel will be a thing again.
Travel, especially to a different country, can change you. I know it has for me. So much so that I’m working on a new program as part of my coaching that combines personal development with travel. It gets us off of autopilot and out of the daily grind. It gives us a fresh perspective, it shows us a different way of life. It can expand your mind in a way you never realized was possible.
One of my first trips to another country was part of an intern abroad program I did one summer in college. It was to the Dominican Republic. It changed my life in so many ways. I had experiences I never had before, I showed myself that I could do things I had never done before (like living and working in another country!).
On the flipside, I also saw poverty like I never had before. I had no clue that people were still living in shacks with dirt floors and no running water in their homes. That people were still struggling like that. It was eye-opening and heartbreaking all at the same time. I had never felt so fortunate, and it changed my entire perspective on life. Inspired me to find a way to ensure I traveled internationally every year…even when I was fresh out of college and “poor” living in NYC.
And more recently, Mike and I went to Italy in 2018. We stayed in a tiny Tuscan town for an entire week. The kind where businesses closed down in the afternoon, so people could spend more time with their loved ones and themselves. Rest.
That’s when I truly saw that there was more to life than work. That I had been doing it all wrong. Not my fault, not anyone’s fault…it was just the only way I knew at the time. It inspired me to find a different way, to find my way, to find my purpose in life. And so I did.
So yeah, I can’t wait to travel again. To see what my next trip will give me.
Tell me: What has travel given you? How has it changed you?
