How travel can heal us from trauma
Did you know that 223.4 million people in the United States have experiences some type of traumatic event in their lives? That’s 70% of all adults. Trauma can lead to PTSD, severe depression, and several other symptoms that directly affect a person’s wellbeing.
Healing that trauma can be a challenging process. Luckily, there are multiple approaches someone can take to get the process started. Traveling happens to be one way people can work through their traumatic experience and find healing. Here’s how it works.
Being Present
No matter where you travel, it’s hard to be anywhere but in the moment. As you enter a foreign environment, you leave your comfort zone and begin to focus intently on what’s happening around you. Intuition sharpens as smells, sounds, and sights become more vivid.
This is the mindset where people have epiphanies and find inspiration. People gain new perspectives, become more aware, and often find themselves refreshed. Just like a vacation can help you destress from being overworked, the same elements can help you heal from trauma.
Shifting Mood
People recovering after their personal injury claims often have a poor mood from missing work and the accident itself. Shifting that mood to a positive one isn’t always easy when you’re stuck at home, which is why traveling can help change the dynamic.
New experiences, getting away from life’s worries, and enjoying a new location can all increase your mood and bring about healing. All of these things also focus your attention on the task of travel, which can help distract from the woes of your trauma.
Self-Reflection
Traveling often involves time to relax and reflect. Whether you’re sitting on the beach watching the ocean waves or enjoying the peace and quiet of the woods, this is an excellent opportunity for self-reflection.
As you clear your head, the difficulties you face from your trauma are easier to isolate and work through. People tend to see the bigger picture in relation to what’s causing them pain, making it easier to see a path through that pain towards a happier version of themselves.
This trick works for more than just trauma, too. Professionals in psychology and at an employment law firm say that this type of self-reflection helps employees work through issues in the office and helps them identify when career changes need to be made.
Cultivating Gratitude
Sometimes, trauma can cloud other aspects of life. Your pain may make it impossible to see the good around you. Traveling brings about a new perspective for most people, helping them realize what they have to be grateful for simply by removing them from their daily life.
The ability to focus on these things and cultivate gratitude towards them can help increase your perception of the positives in your life, effectively overshadowing the negative elements that surround your trauma. It’s not a cure-all, but it does help to focus on the good things in life.