If you’ve been acting on impulse or no longer feel invested in the life plans you’ve spent so long working towards, it could be happening to you … the dreaded midlife crisis.
While some people dive face first onto the surgeon’s table or buy a flashy new sports car in an attempt to band-aid their growing feelings of aimless discontent, there may be a better alternative. Travel.
When was the last time you stepped outside your comfort zone? By the time most people hit the midlife crisis age range, just about anywhere between 35 and 55 years old, they’ve invested decades of hard work and emotional energy in creating the type of life and future they’d like to live. While beneficial, these familiar rhythms and settings can begin to feel suffocating. Travel allows you to step outside the mould of normal life and shake things up.
Travelling doesn’t have to be all cocktails by the pool, although we do recommend at least some of this. It can be focused around goal-oriented challenges and the pursuit of gratification. Whether it’s swimming with sharks, trekking the Great Wall of China or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, great achievements allow people to enjoy immediate satisfaction and boost their self-esteem.
According to Forbes.com, travelling somewhere that makes you feel both excited and intimidated also encourages mental and emotional toughness. You’ll find yourself meeting total strangers and forced to adapt to new environments, as you think on your toes and problem solve your way around a foreign country. Travelling allows you to step away from the daily grind, reconnect with your independence, and experience a fresh appreciation for the world and its possibilities.
It’s easier to reflect on yourself, your desires and your future plans from a distance, maybe even halfway around the world. Travel is a vessel for transformation, learning and growth. It can make much greater changes in your lifestyle and in your attitude than a nip-tuck or a Lamborghini.
Have you ever experienced a midlife crisis? How did you deal with it? Would you use travel to ground yourself again?
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