Why Traveling Is A Great Way
To Overcome Depression
Depression is
never black and white nor is it just feeling sad and unhappy. It’s not something that you will
snap out of eventually or will completely disappear when you wake up one day.
Living with depression requires day-to-day management and is unique to every
person. Understanding your own depression is paramount to receiving the correct
treatment needed to support you through the journey, and what one treatment
does for one person may not be effective for another.
This is why it’s
important to seek out alternative ways to not only change the way we look at
our depression, but also to encourage us to open up to different experiences
that will help towards controlling depression in an effective way, regaining
much-needed energy and clarity that we need to move forward positively.
Overcoming Depression Through Travel
Although no
scientific research has been made into the connection of positive effects of
travel on our mental well-being, many people suffering from depression have
spoken about the ways in which encountering different situations, people and
experiences through travel has allowed them to overcome depression or help cope
with their depression in a natural way.
Endorphins and
oxytocin play a huge role in the chemistry of our brain and the way our mood
affects the way we perceive ideas, thoughts and beliefs. By traveling,
endorphins and oxytocin are released in myriad ways through different
experiences we encounter. Travel forces the brain to make use of these
hormones to improve our mood and outlook.
A survey was
conducted that found traveling is a massive mood booster for people, with vacations and longer trips fulfilling that much-needed
sweet spot, whether it’s to spend time with family and friends or to just get
away and recuperate. That’s no surprise – everyone loves a break – but how
exactly does traveling help with our ability to overcome depression?
1. Traveling Opens Up Unique Situations
Depression can
be cultivated in many ways but when you suffer from depression, you can have a
tendency to feel isolated and alienated from others. The feelings and emotions
of depression can cause you to indulge in your negative thoughts and beliefs
that can cut you off from external environments that could potentially help
you overcome those very feelings.
Traveling opens
you up to situations that require you to pay attention to what’s happening
around you and your brain to think in different ways and solve problems that
you wouldn’t necessarily face in everyday life. Not only that, but you also
open up to encountering new friends and different stimuli that
will create less chance for emphasis on your emotions and distract you
from dwelling too much.
Of course,
distraction isn’t a cure for depression, but over time your brain will get used
to not concentrating so much about your inner thoughts and will allow you
to see different perspectives at the same time. Creating new positive memories
can help you realize the potential for combating your negative inner thoughts.
2. Traveling Teaches You What’s Possible
Depression can
lead to thoughts of low self worth and create negative beliefs that cause
us to think we are incapable of a lot of things. It can cloud us from
seeing our true potential. Traveling can educate us in ways that no other
experiences can, showing us that most of what we think is impossible is
actually possible.
Traveling
creates inspiration which can help alter our perceptions of ourselves and those
around us. When you meet people who have made life choices based on what they
want, not what society expects, this can help open up new ideas and beliefs and
you can choose to think this way too. When traveling, you have the freedom to
eat what you want, see what you want and do anything that you want to do, which
sometimes depression doesn’t allow you to think about or attempt in everyday
life.
3. Getting Out And Meeting People Helps Overcome Depression
Depression can
often bring with it social anxiety or anti-social tendencies. Meeting new
people can become something you want to avoid and you may have trouble
connecting with others. At home, meeting new people can be hard but when
traveling, you are more likely to meet open, friendlier people who are easy to
strike up conversations with. Traveling creates a common bond between fellow
travelers because a lot of you are sharing similar experiences. You can
encounter experiences like volunteering where meeting people less fortunate
than you can be humbling and allows you to focus and appreciate the good things
in your own life as well as the other volunteers you get to know through the
process.
Meeting people
from all walks of life can often bring out ideas, advice and beliefs that may
never have occurred to you before. In the long-run, friendships carved from
traveling can be a constant reminder of your positive memories and help
you with containing your depression once you’re back home and improving your
outlook on life.
4. Traveling Helps You See The Big Picture
When depression
hits, we tend to lose the ability to see the bigger picture of our lives.
When we’re bogged down in day-to-day life, we don’t get the chance to step back
and evaluate our problems properly. Sometimes depression causes us to have an
outlook on life that involves a skewed view of the world.
Traveling allows
us to see the bigger picture. It can help us put certain thoughts and beliefs
in perspective and assess the way we think more candidly. When we take
ourselves out of our usual environment, we are forced to literally see the
world from different eyes. An accumulation of all the experiences we have while
traveling can create a whole new thought process that can help towards
overcoming depression.
5. The World Itself Can Be A Natural Anti-Depressant
Never
underestimate the vast beauty and wonder that Mother Earth provides and its
effect on us as humans. Traveling can cultivate a sense of awe that we don’t
necessarily get the chance to notice when we’re seeing the same places and
people everyday at home.
Awe has a huge
affect on our well-being and happiness and this is in abundance when traveling
to different cities and countries. Whether it’s diving in the Great Barrier
Reef or trekking through great mountains and forests, nature has a very strong
and calming effect on us. Being at one with nature may sound a bit spiritual
and mystical but research has found it’s a real way of beating depression. Traveling creates an immense amount of opportunities that help
expose us to more of what this planet has to offer us mentally.
BY JENNY MARCHAL
No comments:
Post a Comment