11 Reasons People With Anxiety Should Go Traveling

I'm going traveling very soon and will be completing some of the journey by myself. As a sufferer of anxiety it's a little frightening. I've lived abroad and traveled previously, but have allowed myself to slip back into my comfort zone over the last couple of years and build up a safety net. So I don't know how I'm going to feel when I get out there. But I have gathered my resolve and will not let my mental health issues hold me back.

Writing this is somewhat cathartic for me. It's helped me to think seriously and deeply about the reasons why people go traveling and how those apply to somebody with anxiety. It has given me some comfort in looking at all the reasons why I need to just go for it, and the ways in which travel could benefit me personally, as somebody who worries a lot more than the average person.

There's something to be said about the practicalities of traveling when you have anxiety too. Yes, it's about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. But it's also about doing that at your own pace and knowing what measures you need to take to push against the onslaught of panic if it should arise.

11 Nothing Should Hold you Back From Doing What you Want to do

Anxiety can be a huge hindrance on your everyday life. It involves a constant stream of what ifs, as well as catastrophizing and analyzing almost everything that occurs in your life. But you can't help it of course. For this reason, imagining going traveling could be very difficult for people with anxiety, as the possibilities for "bad things" to happen (to put it simply) are elevated. But we cannot let anxiety conquer us. The what ifs might happen, they might not happen. If anxiety is the only thing holding you back from having such an amazing life experience as traveling, you need to gather your strength and do it anyway.

10 You can Overcome Your Social Anxieties by Meeting new People

If you suffer from social anxiety, then putting yourself out there and meeting new people can be an extremely difficult task. Yet one of the best ways of overcoming such anxieties is through doing just that, and building up your confidence. A beautiful thing about traveling is meeting like-minded people, and you will be greeted with lots of opportunities to do so.

But think of it this way. If your anxiety is rooted in the idea that you might say or do something stupid in social situations, or that people won't like you, then this is something you really don't have to worry about when traveling. None of the people who you will come across on your travels know you, so really, who cares if you do or say something stupid? Travel is transient in nature and so you can simply move on if things don't go the way you want them to. In a way then, traveling could provide an arena for you to practise and grow in your social skills.

9 You Must Force Yourself out of Your Comfort Zone to Overcome Anxiety

Everybody likes the idea of being safe and in the comfort of their friends, family, and places they know. This is magnified for people who suffer from anxiety. Because anxiety involves fear of the unexpected, every part of your being will demand that you remain in the sphere of what you know, of the expected. But if you think about it, there's really no such thing. We can't predict the future, we can't know what will happen. This is what makes us worry - we run through every possible occurrence and every possible outcome because we don't really know what will happen.

Thus, we must learn to accept the unexpected and it may be terrifying to even contemplate such. I must admit that this is something I still struggle with a lot. But that's where travel comes in. To force yourself out of your comfort zone through the medium of travel means living the unexpected. If you can get through this relatively unscathed, despite all of the terrible things you anticipated might happen, then going into situations, in which you have little control over and you don't know what will happen, will be an absolute doddle when you get back home.

8 It's Easy to do if you're Equipped With the Right Mindset and Coping Mechanisms

Of course a huge benefit of traveling can be the way in which it helps you to breach the confines of your comfort zone and live more freely as a result thereof. However, if you go too far, it can sometimes result in panic and push you right back to square one. So this means stepping out of your comfort zone at a rate that suits you, and only you will know how far you can really push yourself.

And if you aren't ready to push yourself too far out of your comfort zone. then believe it or not, you can still go traveling. All you need to do is to know what makes you feel at ease. There could be a vast number of things that you're anxious about, for example, if you fear about the safety of your belongings then take photocopies of your documents and make use of safety deposit boxes. If you're anxious of crowds, then take yourself off the beaten track from time to time and avoid rush hour trains and so on.

7 You Almost Certainly won't Feel as Anxious as you Expect to When you go Traveling

In my experience, as will be the experience of most, the anticipation of an event that makes you anxious is always way worse than the fact. This will almost certainly be true of traveling too. Depending on your choice of journey, it could really be quite the opposite of an anxiety-riddled experience. It could be relaxing and refreshing even. You may get the opportunity to take a break from whatever it is that makes you anxious at home, which may be work or a hectic lifestyle for example. You might finish your travels revitalized and ready to tackle your anxieties. Not everything should be scary and miserable, allow yourself to appreciate your experience of traveling for what it truly is.

6 Travel Could Lead to Some Amazing Things in the Future

As you may have already experienced, coping with anxiety sometimes requires building up your confidence slowly, and getting used to new things. So it might be worth taking some small steps as regards to traveling now, in order to be able to take bigger steps later. In reality, that might mean traveling locally or not too far afield, so that later you have enough strength to take the trip halfway across the world that you've always dreamed of.

5 You will Have a Sense of Accomplishment Afterwards and it will Make you Feel Stronger

It's difficult for others to understand the way in which anxiety can affect your entire life. They don't understand that seemingly regular things, like going to a party or getting on public transport for instance can be a major source of apprehension for people with mental health issues. But that isn't something that should be regrettable for people with anxiety, because it's not your fault or choice to feel this way. In a way, you can prove that you're even stronger than those who don't suffer from mental health issues, because you do the things that cause major anxiety, despite the inexplicably horrible way it makes you feel. Travel can thus be a way to prove to yourself, and others, just how strong you really are. You should feel proud of yourself as it's a true achievement, and let that feeling of strength wash over you.

4 Travel Allows for Personal Growth on so Many Levels

Whether people suffer from anxiety or not, people who have traveled always mention the way in which travel helped them grow in confidence. Travel will help you to become a more-rounded person, a better person even, and surely that can only give you more confidence in yourself as a person. This could help grow your self-esteem and strength tenfold.

It depends on the kind of individual you are, but traveling could help you grow on a spiritual level too. This will be even more prominent if you specifically choose to take a spiritual journey, of course, like learning the values of Buddhism on your travels for instance. This could be so powerful in the sense that you may adapt your way of thinking and even learn of other ways of handling your anxiety that you may not have previously thought of, such as learning new realxation techniques in the form of yoga and meditation.

3 You can Develop a Range of Life Skills to Help you Back Home

What most people who suffer from anxiety long for is just a greater sense of ease in general. We try to accomplish that sense of ease through safety mechanisms, which I don't necessarily believe are a bad thing. But travel can free you from the need to have safety mechanisms. It can free you from the crutches which you rely upon in order to get through each day. Travel can help you gain the skills to become more resourceful and independent, which are vital skills to have. These are the types of skills that can help you live your life with greater ease when you've finished traveling.

2 You don't Need to Worry About What Others Might Think

People seem to have a lot of excuses based on various anxieties as to why they shouldn't or can't travel (whether they suffer from anxiety or not). One of which is that they're too old or have too many responsibilities. These kinds of things are anxieties that really shouldn't hold you back. You're never too old to go traveling. If you're looking for some kind of inspiration as to this fact, then check out this guy who went backpacking at 95 years-old.

Other anxieties might involve your financial or job security. You have this immense desire to go traveling so you need to decide what's more important. If having the amazing life experience that you've always dreamed of is more important (which in my opinion it should be) then you have to push those anxieties aside. You almost certainly will change your outlook on life anyway when you go traveling, and therefore may not care if you have the same job waiting for you when you get home. You might have a revelation born from traveling that will make you want to take a new direction in life. Who knows? That's one of the many wonderful things about traveling.

1 Get Away From What Stresses you and Focus on Your Body and Mind

We work hard and many of us millennials are putting in long weeks at work or are spending much of our time studying or writing school assignments. Some of us are even doing both, and this can be overwhelming. Sometimes you need to just get away and relax and let your stresses just escape you, for the time being at least. And for those of you who are scared to travel because of a heavy workload, if you can, you should. According to Forbes, the most successful business people take vacations, so follow that trend!

Take this time to disconnect from everything that stresses you out, and focus on you and your body, which will help you unclutter your mind. This is a time for those of you who are free-spirited to embrace the new culture to which you are surrounded by.