Contributions Of Traveling To Personal Development

 Traveling is a way of discovering the world that we live in. Even if it has some necessities like money and time, the person can live many new adventures. Besides, traveling contributes to personal development. Its contributions to personal development can be listed as follows: Increasing cultural awareness, Language learning and communication skills, Problem solving and flexibility, Self-discovery and self-confidence, Proximity to history and art.

Traveling ensures to learn new cultures even if it is domestic or international. There are many traditional things, customs and cultural differences all around the world. Traveling offers the opportunity to get to know different cultures and understand their values. This can also help to turn traveling into a learning process. Besides, learning differences among people decreases prejudice and improves the skill of empathy. People are social creatures. Having international friends during traveling can ensure sociability, interaction and communication. It is a great chance to look at your own culture from a different perspective by witnessing the traditions of a country.

To learn a new language, being exposed to it is one of the best ways. By traveling internationally, the language of that place can be learned. Besides, its practice may be easier, because communication is mandatory while traveling. For example; when the traveler wants to learn the famous places to visit in that country, s/he has to search for the correct information. And one of the best ways to learn it is to communicate with the indigenous people there.

While traveling, the traveler can face many problems such as delaying the appointments, being closed off some destinations, etc. During the traveling time, the traveler has to solve these problems, so s/he can still enjoy traveling. Unexpected things can happen in life. Because of that, while traveling problem solving skills of the traveler can improve. And this skill can be so useful in every part of life. Besides, encountering unexpected situations while traveling improves the ability to think quickly and produce solutions. Being in different environments teaches the traveler to adapt to change easily. For example; the traveler needs to find a route when lost or be able to express needs despite the language barrier. These experiences can also contribute to personal development.

Traveling allows the individual to be alone with himself/herself and discover his/her own limits. Being alone and solving problems, creating a travel plan, and listening to himself/herself contribute a lot to his/her personal development. New experiences allow the individual to test their abilities and courage. traveling alone is very useful to gain the self-confidence to act independently. Because the traveler is alone and draws his/her plan entirely according to himself/herself, and this gives him/her great self-confidence. While traveling with others is beneficial for personal development, it also improves the ability to act together and meets the need for socialization.

Traveling gives the traveler the chance to see historical places and works of art on site. These experiences increase the individual’s interest in history and art. If the person is already interested in history and art, the historical and artistic works s/he sees in the places s/he visits will give him/her more pleasure. If the person is an individual, who is far from history and art, historical and artistic works in the places visited may stimulate his/her interest. In this way, it enables one to see the world from a different perspective and achieves emotional satisfaction.

As a result, traveling alone or with others contributes to the personal development of the traveler/s in many ways. These contributions will turn out to be great positives in a person’s life when s/he returns from travel. While the adventures, experiences, the languages and the cultures learned improve the person’s mental structure in a good way, they also expand the person’s perspective on life and the person receives positive feedback from this.