Will travel really be as life-changing as people say? Will it be worth the anxiety and uncomfortable feelings of stepping out of your comfort zone? There's no way of knowing for sure.
But one thing is certain. We can learn a lot from other people's experiences.
I asked my friend Laura if she would be willing to share her own personal perspective on how traveling changed her life and ultimately lead her to where she is today.
Thanks to a successful modeling career, Laura started traveling the world, often alone, at a very young age. Leaving her family and hometown in Latvia was intimidating, but all that she learned through facing that fear, taught her priceless life lessons.
Here's what Laura has to say.
How it began
"My traveling journey started a couple of months after I turned sixteen. At that time social media wasn’t as big a part of our lives as it is nowadays. Inspirational posts, deep quotes about traveling and how it may change your life didn’t exist at that time. At least, it didn’t exist in my bubble. I didn’t know what it would be like.
My idea of traveling was about seeing places, wandering around, and returning home with pictures of landscapes, monuments, and skyscrapers.
So there I was on the airplane for the first time. Terrified.
I was a very timid, anxious girl and my level of English was very limited, but surprisingly, there was courage hidden inside me.
My story began in Japan.
Culture shock. Tears. My first week there was a nightmare. But It passed. All those dark emotions like a hurricane calmed, and the sky cleared.
I started to view things differently. I let Japan into my heart and in return, it helped me to keep my heart open for other travels.
In the end, traveling left a deep mark on me and it turned out to be a massive project on becoming my true self. It made me leave my cocoon and helped me to become a butterfly.
The world as a teacher
Looking back, it makes me smile at how I as a little girl grew into an adult. Every trip was like a step up in my self-development. Each country taught me something new about myself. The places I went gave pieces of themselves, which I needed at the time, in order to become the person I am today. The world raised me.
Befriending myself
Not every day was a sunny day. Some days were full of clouds and colored blue.
Feeling like a misfit and lonely. While literally being alone. These feelings at such a young age were so incomprehensible.
The only way out was to face these feelings directly and to become the very person I wanted to be friends with. Through long walks, coffee dates with myself, and doing the things I enjoyed, I finally connected with my core. Through silence, I mastered friendship with myself.
And this is the most valuable thing I’ve learned. Nowadays, wherever I go, I know I have a great friend with me. Myself.
Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer
Traveling is the greatest investment in yourself. There is no other thing that I have purchased, which has impacted my life in such a forceful way.
I have been to sixteen different countries.
Each of them and each person that I’ve met there has been my guide in understanding my likes and dislikes, introduced me to new interests, and has enriched my life with unforgettable experiences. The memories I have collected are my greatest assets and they can never be taken away from me.
Traveling is like flirting with life - It is like saying,’’ I would stay and love you, but I have to go’’
The thing with traveling is that it is like knowledge. The more you see the more you know you haven’t seen.
After all the travel experiences that I’ve had, my travel list is not getting any shorter. Instead, every time I return from somewhere I have at least two new destinations added to my list.
Traveling has become part of me and removing it from my life would be like cutting the oxygen.
In conclusion
I want to thank my younger self for being so brave. Because if sixteen-year-old me wouldn’t have got on that plane, I wouldn't have all that I do today.
Traveling not only changed my life, but it actually helped begin it in the first place.
To start living it and tasting experiences to the utmost. To feel, to see, to hear, and express myself.
Before, these senses were sitting dead in me. Only by traveling, was I able to finally experience them on another level. I am so grateful for the opportunity I've had in my life to travel. Because of it, my life has become happier and way more fun, ever since I spun the wheel of traveling.
Dear reader, remember, that life doesn’t happen to you, you make it happen!
Dare to do it!"
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