Mental health has become a pressing issue in not only the United Kingdom but the entire world. On this Mental Health Day, many celebrities have come out and spoken about their close encounters with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. These celebrities are headed by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, who after the untimely death of his mother, the late Princess Diana, suffered from emotional distress. Other celebrities that are promoting mental health awareness include Zayn Malik, who is a former member of the One Direction music band and suffers from social anxiety. Award-winning actors like Glenn Close, Stephen Fry and Lady Gaga have all shared their stories to instil awareness among the common masses and to encourage them to ask for help if the need arises.

Unfortunately, there is a rise in the problems related to mental health in the United Kingdom. This can be assessed by the fact that the UK government now has its first ever Minister for Suicide Prevention. Suicide has spread to endemic proportions, as four thousand and five hundred people take their lives each year in just England alone. It is also the leading cause of death for men under the age of forty-five. There are a number of reasons why debilitating depression is seeping into our communities today. These reasons include emotional inability to reconcile tough relationships, social pressures, job insecurity and poverty.

Travelling is so much more than feeling the heat of the sun and slurping on a few gin and tonics. It is a great way to unwind and release the build of mental pressures that develop over time and cause depression. Travelling and touring the world does not only increase your intellect, but it also puts away your problems, at least for a little while, so that you regain strength and figure out your problems from a new fresher perspective. Now medical scientists and psychiatric researchers are also nodding in unison to the idea of travelling for better mental health. Here are a few reasons why a vacation is so much better than a bottle of dizzying anti-depressants.

Rediscover the True New You

Travel helps with stress because it removes the traveller from a stressful routine altogether. We tend to become lost in our daily routines, trying to run and work, meet demands and deadlines as the shorthand of the clock revolves round and round. We lose ourselves in this mindless hunt for purpose as we forget what it meaningful and interesting to us. Dr Tamara McClintock Greenberg describes this so beautifully in her book ‘Psychodynamic Perspective of Aging and Illness’. Taking a break removes you from that torturous and numbing cycle, and reintroduces you to what is actually more appealing to you personally. So pack your bags and cross off that destination on your bucket list. In just two days your cortisol (stress hormone) levels will plummet giving you the mental capacity to realign your personal goals.

Rediscover yourself in Malaysia during Christmas 2018

Re-imagine Yourself

Travelling is a Master’s crash course in ‘Yourself-ology’. There is nothing in the world that can teach a person more about their own hopes and dreams than a journey, not intent on reaching the destination but enjoying the experience along the way. Many great and wise people have been known to say the same about travelling. Danny Kaye once said, “To travel is to take a journey into yourself.” The famous writer of the Lord of the Rings novels said:

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

Journeying to new and exciting places gives you a new start and a fresh beginning. On the way, you might encounter people who share similar goals and perspectives. Engaging with them not only gives you pointers on how to turn around your life but also boosts your self-confidence, self-esteem and worth. To travel is to attain specialized and personalized hope for you to look at the future and say “Easy, I can do this!”

Unfold the well-kept secrets of African beauty, Cape Town!

Smiles all the way

The feeling of liberation, the unshackling of the chains gluing you to the office desk is pure happiness. If you feel trapped and confined in a small office cubical, maybe it is time that you get the first flight out to the Philippines. The endless beaches on one of the thousands of islands can set your heart and soul free. New events, places, and new faces provoke your brain to reprogram itself. Travelling renews your brain like a laptop; when riddled with viruses, it reverts back to a cleansed restore point. The rewiring of your brain releases happiness juices and encourages the traveller to explore more.

Challenges and Counter challenges

Of course, there are potholes on every road in the world. A traveller does not have the time to fret about it. When a tree trunk falls on the road, there is no option but to find a way over, under or about it. That is the nature of the road under a traveller’s foot: the road must keep on moving, it is not a place to stay, it is a place for you to transition and go beyond. Being on a journey helps you become more resourceful and to become more resilient when a challenge befalls you. Avid travellers often have stories of getting mugged and robbed of their belonging. These events were traumatic at first but getting over these situations on their own helps them not to lose themselves in stressful situations, to not forego their composure and to look for solutions. Toughened steel is only produced when the iron is placed in a red-hot furnace. Travel, therefore can make you tough and prepare you for the life you left behind in distress.

Your Inner Picasso

Creativity requires a trigger or inspiration. Many people who travel to places like Australia, India, South Africa, and Zimbabwe get exposed to completely different cultures and ideas, come back home with a lot more than just good memories and souvenirs. Adam Galinsky, A professor at the University of Columbia declares that travel can increase cognitive flexibility. In layman terms, an avid traveller is able to find more meaning and depth in existing and completely new ideas. Many artists and writers actually change cities and countries to be cleansed and be rid of their writer’s block. As a traveller tries hard to integrate with foreign cultures in new lands, he develops this new ability. This increases the overall productivity of a person and iinstills happiness, elation and a sense of achievement.