For many people, traveling is an essential part of their personal growth. If we stay in our comfort zone, we won’t change much on the inside.
However, life experiences, whether they are new vocational or educational adventures, new relationships, or exposure to unfamiliar environments can prompt us to step outside our own comfort zone and, there, to change and grow.
Freeman Fung, an international author, inspirational speaker, and certified life coach, has enjoyed life in over thirty countries and speaks of traveling as the ultimate fast track to self-mastery and personal growth. As a conscious transformational traveler, Freeman motivates you to explore this world and find the hidden personality of yours.
Travel To Explore The World.
It can be anything from the culture, food, history, nature, and people to your experience — traveling brings joy. Even a study involving 500 adults reveals that people who frequently travel feel more satisfied with their lives than those who don’t.
Moments of serenity, awe, and reverence by visiting a historical place or seeing a field of flowers become memories that make you smile during a long day at work. Such feelings will contribute to your overall well-being in the long run.
While writing his book, Freeman expressed his feelings about how he used to travel constantly until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He further added, “I never stayed in the same country for more than a year (not that I intended to move that much, but opportunities always present themselves when you are ready and have the right mindset).”
With an uptick in travel since borders reopen, this book is the go-to resource for those who are eager to see the world again with a new light.
Travel Enhances Your Communication Skills.
Traveling is not just about going somewhere for a change of scenery and leaving familiarity. However, it helps handle stressful, awkward, and out-of-the-ordinary situations, often with limited communication skills.
A major part of your traveling experience is meeting new people and engaging them in friendly chit-chat. Making small talk improves your conversations and develops your confidence in speaking, listening, and being more mindful of non-verbal cues.
However, not everyone feels comfortable with the openness to talk much. A similar case was with Freeman Fung when he was just a little kid speaking fair English. Freeman mostly spent his time indoors playing video games, escaping the reality of his low self-esteem. He was an ordinary Asian kid who lived in a stressful, competitive environment and found life meaningless.
In his book, Travel to Transform, he shared how traveling transformed his life, accelerated his personal growth, and assisted him in thriving in the modernized world. He further said these are all the crucial life lessons that traditional education missed.
You may leverage life experiences when interacting with people and break the ice in such diverse social interactions.
Travel Lets You Say Yes To Spontaneity.
Your itinerary is incomplete without spontaneity. You must treat yourself to pleasant surprises, from exotic foods to rare cultures. To be honest, you will never be able to unleash the world’s hidden gems unless you roam around.
Most people take spontaneity to another level by not doing any planning and making travel decisions on the spot. Freeman’s book is a self-development guide for people stuck in mundane routines and seeking to discover more. His travel memoir explains how becoming a conscious global citizen helps you find hidden opportunities to holistically transform your life from surviving to thriving.
Try and get out of your comfort zone. No matter where you are from, you, too, as a transformational traveler, can live to your fullest in this modernized world.
Being a spontaneous traveler breaks the uniformity and monotony and pushes you to turn more flexible and creative. It also helps you relieve stress and boredom. You’re also bound to stay happier, which is why frequent traveling is so important.
Travel Teaches You About Yourself.
Traveling is an experiential learning that teaches you new concepts as they occur in a real setting and assigns you issues to resolve with no manuals or textbooks.
You discover more things about yourself in this process. For instance, you’ll know if you hate crowds or enjoy communicating with people. You will also become kinder, calmer, and more patient when facing situations that would’ve stressed you out.
While traveling around the world, Freeman discovered a new version of himself. He went from being ‘forced’ by his parents to learn classical piano, joining a metal band with emo hair in high school, to becoming a DJ who played in pretisage clubs in Ibiza, London, Hong Kong, etc. Travel unleashes a multi-passionate life for him, where today, he’s also as a Shaolin martial artist, biohacker and more.
There is a lot to explore about yourself and your surroundings. Speaking of skills, try and learn different talents and take short-term courses available in the diverse destinations you visit worldwide.
Where Do You Go Next?
Traveling will help you decompress, relax, and do much more with your life. It offers you great opportunities to meet people, make new friends, and gather experiences that will enrich your personal growth and career.
When writing his book, Freeman traveled, relocated, backpacked, lived, worked, and studied in more than thirty-four countries and is still counting. He is always open-minded about where he will go next.
Similarly, wherever you go it’s better to explore and learn from your surroundings. Learning soft skills is for all, especially for people in the workplace. Problem-solving attitude, decision-making, better communication, creativity, planning, awareness, and spontaneity will help you thrive and improve your personal growth.
Survey Finds Americans Traveling More, Spending Less in 2023(Opens in a new browser tab)
Being open-minded and aware helps you strive to improve yourself and inspire others.
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