How Can Venturing Alone Boost Your Mental Health? |ADDICTED

Have you ever wanted to take a solo trip, but you’ve been afraid that you won’t enjoy it as much as you enjoy traveling with friends?

Has the fear of being alone prevented you from seeing parts of the world you’ve always dreamed of seeing? Are you a bit concerned about your safety while traveling alone?

We’re here to add a bit more food for thought to your solo trip considerations and tell you how venturing out into the world alone can boost your mental health.

Guest post by Sarah Kaminski.

It Teaches You How to Rely on Yourself

The most obvious benefit of traveling alone is that it teaches you how to rely on no one but yourself.

When you live at home, you come to rely on those around you for comfort and help. Even if you don’t see it right now, you are benefiting from communal protection. There’s the nice butcher who always helps you choose the right cuts, there are your friends who will bring you Tylenol when you are sick, there’s your family to call when you need a hand.

When you travel alone, the only person you can rely on is yourself. This skill will greatly benefit you when you get home. You will grow a thicker skin, so to speak, and you’ll find yourself more ready and able to face the world.

It Shows You Who You Really Are

Agatha Christie has written a novel called Absent in the Spring that encapsulates what being alone and traveling alone is really like. It shows you what kind of person you are and what you are capable of.

You’ll find yourself in all kinds of situations that will show you how you react and what your strengths are. Perhaps you have a knack for languages you never knew about? Maybe you have a great sense of direction? You may also discover you are less shy than you imagined.

You will also have plenty of time to think. A lot of it will be spent thinking about yourself and your actions. You can come home from a solo trip and find the energy and the drive to become the kind of person you’ve always wanted to be.

It Helps You Build Self-Esteem

Traveling alone will also make you more confident and build up your self-esteem. Having exposed yourself to all kinds of situations and having come out of them successfully, you will learn to rely on yourself more.

This can be especially good for you if you are currently struggling with confidence. If you aren’t the type of person who easily makes friends or if you’re generally a bit awkward and shy, taking a solo trip can be a great way to overcome some of that.

Note that you should never push yourself into uncomfortable situations. If you are not ready to travel alone, don’t do it in an attempt to overcome a mental health issue.

It Gets You out of Your Comfort Zone

Traveling alone is the ultimate way to kick yourself out of your comfort zone. When you are constantly doing things you are comfortable with, you stop growing. When you do things you have never done before, you are forced, so to speak, to evolve and mature.

You should not place yourself in situations you are ready for, though. Take baby solo travel steps, so to speak. If you throw yourself into the deeper end of the pool without knowing how to swim, you may cause an adverse reaction and end up coming home feeling more anxious and stressed than before you left.

Choose a destination you like and that you are comfortable with seeing alone. You can be gone for as little as a day.

How to Plan Your First Solo Trip

Now that you know why you should travel alone at least once in your life, here’s how to prepare for this trip:

Choose a very safe destination to visit.

All of the Scandinavian countries, Japan, and Ireland are some great choices for a first-time solo trip.

Save where you can.

Find low-cost airfares to your chosen destination, but choose a safe hotel for your stay. You can also rent an apartment, but it’s better to stay in a hotel where there will always be someone you can call for help and where you won’t feel so alone.

Let your friends and family know where you are every day.

Text them your planned itinerary and send them the occasional selfie. Don’t post your real-time actions on social media, though – especially not in the context of “traveling alone.”

Know who you can call for help locally.

Get travel insurance, know where the emergency room is, and know how you can get in touch with the local police. Learn a couple of useful phrases in the local language if you need to, or write them down in case of emergency.

Adjust your plan to suit your mood.

You don’t need to spend every day out and about if you just need a bit of time to recharge and rest. One of the perks of solo travel is that you don’t have to do anything you don’t feel like.

Now that you know just how beneficial venturing out into the world alone can be, you can start planning your first solo outing. You don’t have to go far, and you don’t have to stay too long. Even a weekend alone can do wonders for your mental health.