How Travel Helps You Find Yourself

"Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere you find yourself."  Travel changes you.  This is how travel helps you find yourself.

I'll never forget the moment I began to find myself through travel.  And as the quote above says, it was in the middle of nowhere.  6,500 miles from 'home' in Cairo, Egypt to be precise.  I was standing outside the airport and the call to prayer began broadcasting across the city.  I looked to the sky as if I would see where the source of this foreign noise was originating.  The sun warmed my face and in that moment, so many miles from home, I felt like a different person.

Sometimes I feel like I don't recognize the person I've become, but in a good way.  When I was younger I could think of a million reasons why I couldn't travel to far away places.  Money.  Fear.  Language.  Time.  My life changed immensely and irreversibly when I met my future husband and became and expat.  These things that had held me back before became small in comparison to what I was about to gain in the coming years.

-- Unfamiliarity Makes You Try Harder --
Moving abroad puts you in a 'sink or swim' mentality.  If you've ever ventured outside your comfort zone, you'll know what I'm talking about.  In a foreign country you find yourself having to exert extra effort to learn the most basic of life's skills; language, driving, communicating, ect.  It is in these lessons that you grow as a person.  It motivated me to try harder in many areas of my life because now I realize, I really can do anything I put my mind to.

-- Loneliness Makes You Stronger --
After the excitement and novelty wears off you'll find yourself in a lonely place called 'homesickness'.  A smell, a sound, a word or an accent; anything can set you off to this place.  It's sad and it's dark, and you may cry like I did.  Fear not though.  Like most things in life there is a silver lining.  The loneliness you experience will make you stronger.  How?  You'll gain a new level of independence and the ability to rely on yourself.  At the end of the day, you can only count on yourself to create your own happiness.

-- Exploring Makes You Wiser --
Travel at every opportunity.  You never know where your travels will take you, physically, mentally and emotionally.  Some of my greatest memories in life are from the most random places.  Don't be afraid to take the road less traveled (unless of course that road goes through a dangerous area).   Meet people from all walks of life.  Try new things.  Exploring opens your mind.  The world is vast and there is so much to learn.  You'll walk away wiser, more grateful and with a new found humility that will likely stay with you forever.  And what a gift that is.

I always tell Hubby that I'm so glad I met him after having lived on my own for several years.  I feel the same way about the timing of having Little Man.  I'm grateful I have the opportunity to travel, to have been an expat and to find myself in distant places.  I truly believe it's made me a better person and a better Mom than I would have been otherwise.

What have you learned about yourself from traveling?

PS - I'm linked up with the Expat Diaries this week!