Travel invigorates...it is our own personal RESET button.
We pack our baggage (literal and emotional) and set off for an adventure! We take a flight, train or road trip to some exciting, unknown place. Once we arrive, we look at our surroundings with fresh eyes. And maybe you realize something...you can be whomever you want to be. This gives you a chance to be courageous, kind, outgoing, fun, healthy...whatever you hope you could be.
Now, I know...we can't all take a fancy summer vacation. And you don't need to...you can still utilize the magic of travel. How you ask?
Pretend you are visiting a new city or country in your very backyard...be a tourist in your own town! What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? How do you want to act?
Travel locally: Can you visit a local fair or festival? Go to a concert or nearest city's botanical gardens? Visit a historical library or museum? Take a walking tour of your city or town and view it with a new perspective! Window shop in a shopping village or mall, as if you have never been there before.
Explore local or far away cultures: art, language, rituals, practices, history, etc.
Watch a foreign film. Imagine yourself as a part of a different culture, speaking a different language and walking the streets of Paris, London or Rome!
Get curious! What is around you on your walk or drive to work? Do you pass any stores you could explore? Are there restaurants you've always wanted to try out? People you have wanted to get to know?
How can you show up differently? What qualities do you wish to exercise: bravery? kindness? gumption? empathy? How can you reinvent yourself (right here, right now)?
Something else that travel does is help us to appreciate HOME: our own bed, annoying family, local hole-in-the-wall restaurants, coworkers we see almost everyday, a home-cooked meal, friends we don't prioritize...How can you take a deep breath and enjoy what is around you?
So, if someone asks if you are taking a vacation this summer...there are no excuses! Reap the benefits of a fresh, new outlook on life! What will you do today? Tomorrow? This weekend? Next Week?
I look forward to hearing all of your realizations, changed perspectives, and adventures!
Be well,
Nora
