Dubai: If you thought the best lessons of life were learnt in a classroom, you couldn’t be more wrong. They are in fact learnt miles away from your comfort zone – from the quietly flowing rivers, humble mountains, and ultimately Mother Nature. Here are 10 ways how travel can shape you up as an individual:
1. Patience: While travelling you come across varied people and cultures and you learn to adapt yourself to the prevailing situations.
2. Fearlessness: Fear of heights, being alone, water … we spend most of our lives limiting ourselves. Travelling mows down that wall for sure.
3. Confidence: You scale great mountains, dive in deep waters, navigate in unknown territories, share tables with strangers and conquer fears … if this doesn’t make you a confident person, what will?
4. Appreciative of differences: You are exposed to traditions and cultures you did not know existed. A few could be shocking revelations and others would pleasantly surprise you. Travelling teaches you to be more open and easygoing.
5. Managing finances: From saving for your dream trip to compromising with a deluxe room to accommodate an extra day in the city, travelling can teach you about finances so much better than those B-schools.
6. Success: People management skills, crisis management, conflict management, better utilisation of resources: if you are an avid traveller you already have learnt the major life lessons that are required to lead a successful life.
7. Forgiveness and acceptance: You may deal with missed flights, adjust with a nosy co-traveller, brave bed-bugs or have a flat tyre on a road trip …you know there are things that can’t be controlled and a few things will go wrong no matter how well you plan them. But you learn to accept things you have no control over.
8. Good faith: The number of good people you meet will always outnumber the ones who cheat, lie or fool you.
9. Humility: Mighty mountains, deep valleys, infinite oceans, endless meadows: a glimpse of this is enough to make you realise how miniscule your existence is.
10. Living in the moment: Probably the biggest lesson while travelling is to appreciate the moment.
The author is CEO and co-founder of HolidayMe.com
