Mental Health Benefits of Traveling Alone

Why you should try solo-travel, at least once!

Why you should try solo-travel, at least once!

I have always wanted to travel alone. But as a young, South Asian child of immigrants, with student loans and cultural expectations - it’s not something I came around to doing until I was thirty-four. And my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve traveled a ton, regardless of my student loan and my South Asian cultural norms. Something about doing it alone always felt inaccessible to me. No one in my personal circle had done it before, I didn't really have any role models to look up to for it. And frankly, when I was younger - I don’t think I had the wherewithal or knowledge to navigate being alone in a new place where no one speaks your language.

That’s besides the point. This isn’t an analysis of why or why not an immigrant, Muslim, young woman should travel or not. This is about how incredibly liberating and healing traveling alone was, for my mental health. (Please note the intentional use of the term mental health; mental health and mental illness are different things. You can learn more about that here. I am in no way saying that mental illnesses should be treated through travel). 

Helps build self-trust

Being on your own and having to make decisions that have real-time consequences really highlights your sense of trust in yourself. If you have low self-trust, this gives you an opportunity to exercise that muscle, in an environment where you don’t have to worry about “what will other people think” - because you don’t know anyone there! 

The stillness and silence of being alone also gives you a chance to really hear your inner-voice (sometimes known as ‘your gut’ or instincts). This gives you a chance to connect with your inner-compass. As you have small wins during your travels, because you listened to your gut or paid attention to your inner-voice, you start building confidence in your decision-making. When you mess up (which you will!), you can take a step back and reflect on what your inner-voice was telling you at that time. This is an opportunity to learn that your inner-voice matters and is helpful! (I’m not talking about the ‘inner self-critical’ voice, instead talking about the one that gives you insight on your decisions/situations).

Finally, self-trust is built through problem-solving. Traveling alone is a series of problem-solving sets, requiring you to always think and plan ahead. You become better at anticipating problems, and being better prepared for them. For example, you might think ahead and purchase a phone battery-pack and internet stick, knowing that you don’t want to be in situations where you are without your phone or internet. You might research a place to find the nearest hospital and police station. These types of things encourage you to start viewing yourself as self-reliant and building self-trust incrementally. 

If you’re interested, you can learn more tips on self-trust here. 

Increases self-soothing skills

When you are traveling alone, you don’t have the familiar comforts of your home, your people, your favorite coffee or bookshop. Sometimes, due to time differences, you might not even be able to reach out to your family or friends back home (or, your internet may not work properly).  So, you really have to rely on yourself to make yourself feel better after a bad day, a set-back, when you’re feeling scared or anxious, and when you’re feeling sad.

Here, your creative self-care skills come into play. How do you manage anxiety alone in your hotel room at night? How do you stop the self-doubt from taking over, as you go from one city to the other? With limited resources, and lack of familiar self-care options, you’ll start to build new ways to make yourself feel better. Thus, expanding your self-care toolkit when you get back home!

Opportunity to connect with yourself in a new way

I really recommend taking a travel journal, a real pen and paper vibe. This is for romanticized and practical reasons, both. The inner-romantic in me always imagines writing the next-great-novel in my dusty travel journal on the banks of the Seine. From a practical perspective, phone batteries die, you may not have a charger or you might be in a place where you don’t want to take out your phone. Carrying a laptop becomes heavy and there’s tons of hotels/hostels/airbnbs that don’t have a safe. So - the safest bet here is to have a good ole’ fashioned notebook/journal and a pen. My favorite thing to do is to buy a journal in the city I’m in, not a very large or long one - but something that refers to the city I’m in so that when I look back on my notes, it reminds me of the places I’ve visited. 

Journaling while traveling gives you a different sense of clarity. Being alone also gives you a different sense of clarity. Reflecting on your life back home, its problems, the main characters  - you are able to have a different perspective. There is a little bit of distance, so you’re able to think about these things.  Spending days on end with just yourself also gives you a chance to let your mind wander, and start to think about the things that maybe you have been avoiding. 

Sparks curiosity and creativity 

Traveling opens your mind. That’s a given, whether you’re alone or with other people. The exposure to an environment that’s different from your daily life is an opportunity to think about the world differently. Learning about other cultural practices and norms, trying their food, and seeing their way of life - all enrich your own experience. When you’re alone, though, you get a chance to absorb it in a deeper way. You don’t have the distraction or comfort of another person, so you’re forced to pay attention to and engage with the local customs and people. You will also be more likely to try new things. Not only does this open your mind, it sparks new perspectives. This expands your cognitive flexibility: your brain’s ability to adapt to new and changing environments.  When you reflect on your travel experiences, you will notice small changes in creativity and curiosity about the world. 

Forces you to get out of your comfort zone

Your comfort zone is important, it gives you a sense of safety. However, only living in your comfort zone can keep you stuck in the same emotional patterns. So, it’s important to take breaks from your comfort zone periodically. Traveling alone is a great way to do it. Being out of your comfort zone encourages you to use parts of your mind and emotional center that you don’t usually use. It asks you to do things that you are a little uncomfortable doing, such as talking to strangers, making new friends,  or asking for help; sitting to eat alone or going to a show/concert by yourself. Things that you might not necessarily do back at home, and therefore never do, and so, you might be too afraid of them or think that they are beyond your ability. When you do the same things while traveling, you realize that you are capable of doing things that are outside of your comfort zone, thus expanding your emotional strengths and your comfort zone itself.  Of course, you should only do it only when you feel like you have the emotional capacity to do it. 

A ship is safe in the harbour, but that’s not what ships are built for. – Gael Atta

Embracing the unknown 

We live in a society that has no unknowns anymore. We go to dinners, and we know what’s on the menu. We read reviews for shows and movies before watching them. We know a lot about our potential partners because of Google searches, social media profiles, and their dating app profile - we know things before we even meet the person! So, it’s no surprise that we are not comfortable with the ‘unknown’. Traveling by yourself, no matter how much you plan it, comes with a level of uncertainty. There is a factor of the ‘unknown’ that you have to be comfortable with, when you make the decision to travel alone. The more you embrace it, and are open to it, the richer and deeper your experience will be. 

How do you embrace the unknown? One tip I’ll share about how to embrace the known is: when something happens off plan, don’t focus on the plan anymore. Instead, start looking towards the direction you’re headed in. For example, when I was in Faro, Portugal, I really wanted to see flamingos (some blogs had said that there is a marsh-area where they gather). So I planned a morning hike to that place (it was about an hour away from where I was, and then a 1.5 hike in the marsh-land). I was super pumped about it, and had my plan. But, when I got there and started chatting with the locals, I learnt that there are no flamingos and that this is a nice local hike, but doesn’t go very deep into the forest. I was definitely disappointed, but instead of focusing on what I was missing (flamingos), I turned all my energy into researching the local area, any restaurants/food stalls they have that I could try, more details about the hike and other local animals that might be there. This way, you don’t invalidate what you’re feeling about the ‘known’ that didn’t happen, but also are focusing your energy into leaning into the unknown. 

Traveling alone, especially in my 30s, was a revelatory experience for me. If you’re able to, I definitely encourage doing it at least once! 

PS. I am very aware of my deep privilege here. Travel is not accessible to everyone. There are a myriad of barriers people can face in their desire to travel. This listicle is meant to highlight the benefits of traveling for mental and emotional growth, and I recognize that this is not the only way to achieve the same end - a fulfilled sense of self and a joyful life.