Travel Perks
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Rebecca Hunter, MSW: [00:00:00] Thanks for listening to Take Out Therapy, where you can improve your mental health, emotional stability, and life skills in less than 20 minutes a week. Simple, straightforward, authentic advice and education, right from a private practice therapist and anxiety expert. I'm Rebecca Hunter, and this is better mental health, delivered.
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Well, hello. Hello. I'm so happy that you stopped in today for yet another personal growth, quick, quick lesson. Today's episode. I hope will be a little bit fun for you as we travel back in time to my month off that I took recently. I want to talk to you about some of the massive mental health and personal growth benefits that come from travel. This isn't really something I've talked about before.
So I'm looking forward to talking a little bit about my trip. [00:01:00] Yes. But also relating it to my favorite subject, mental health. Hey. Hey, did you guys know? Did you get my email? I'm on YouTube now. I've got my act together and I'm publishing my video episodes over on YouTube. So go find me at takeout therapy. I'm also posting a bunch of stuff on social media and actually kind of having a lot of fun with it.
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And did I mention that my membership comes with a private podcast? Yeah, it's true. Check it out at, take out therapy.com. So let's get into the episode today because I have recently had a month off and did a bunch of travel over to Portugal. And as I was reflecting on it, because I have been reflecting on it as I'm getting back into my work [00:03:00] life, I'm trying to be really conscientious about. Just taking really good care of myself and taking things kind of slow and bringing what I learned from my trip back into my life.
Travel is a very enriching, personal growth experience. So. Whether you go into the next town over, or you're heading to a foreign land, my friend travel. Is an awesome opportunity to grow as a person. It's all also an opportunity to stay stuck in certain ways. And so that's why I wanted to do this episode because I don't want people to overlook. Where they can actually learn to be more developed, to exercise different parts of their brain than they typically do in their everyday life.
Like there's so much opportunity in travel. It expands our perspective. And when I say that, I don't just mean that on a [00:04:00] topical level, like, oh, we have different perspective when we go and see how other people live. Yeah. We do. But also it lights up the whole brain, which is what we love in my field because when we light up the whole brain, meaning we kind of work all the different parts of that Oregon. Then it gets more blood flow and it's just basically helps the organ be healthier and to work. Better. Travel expands our perspective, it lights the whole brain up. And it challenges us in a lot of important ways. Here's the deal. I have been working with people in my private practice for many, many years. And travel is something that people sometimes let their mental health get in the way of, but actually my point. Is always that travel can actually facilitate better mental [00:05:00] health.
So. Like I said, I reasonably took a month off of work, which I try now. I'm 51. I kind of worked my butt off to get to where I am right now. So now once a year, I take a month off and this year we decided to go to Portugal. So. If you know me, you know that I am a very, I am prone to anxiety when I'm flying. I'm prone to terror, actually, when I'm flying, there's a lot of skills that I don't really possess that like one would say, well, I'm not very good at travel because I cannot read an online map to save my life.
Like do not ask me to navigate. And I do tend to be kind of afraid in a lot of new situations. But here's the thing. I decided a long time ago that [00:06:00] there was no way that I was going to let those things get in my way of seeing the world again, worked my butt off. I'm where I am. And now it's time for me to enjoy it. So we went to Portugal. Oh, my gosh, we had so much fun. But it also just brings out these very difficult things.
And I want to talk a little bit about that in the context of my trip today. And I'm like pulling up some of my notes. That I made on the airplane. Because I was such a geek. So one of the things I was thinking about is travel is really uncomfortable. Like the first day we, we basically got, we flew into Porto, which is one of the big cities, big, larger cities in Portugal.
And Portugal is a very small country. So we knew that we could do it in about three weeks, which is what we did. [00:07:00] We rented a car and we went to find our Airbnb. And one of my things is by the way, I'm like an excellent travel agent. I know how to book places that are pretty nice to stars, very basic, but in like the best parts of town.
So that's always my goal. And I also have a little bit thrifty when I travel, because I want to have a lot of money for my food, for my gelato, you know? So, um, It's uncomfortable when you land in a foreign place where you don't know the language, you don't know what the signs mean. You've rented a car and you now have to like drive somewhere. So it's hilarious.
It's very uncomfortable. There's many uncomfortable moments. So uncomfortable that it would maybe discourage somebody from even taking the trip. You know what I mean? When we first got there, we could not get into our [00:08:00] condo. We just couldn't. I mean, I was. Putting the button in to the little box thingy and I'm pushing on that thing and it just wasn't working.
And so right then and there. It's like we're in problem-solving mode. Right. And that is really uncomfortable. And it is so good for us. You see the thing is in everyday life, we kind of know what makes us uncomfortable. And if all is going somewhat swimmingly, which you know, that can fluctuate. Then life kind of takes on a predictability, right.
And the things that come up. In life that are quite uncomfortable are also usually really unexpected. Travel creates a expected discomfort. That we kind of have to get through of our own accord and we do, we can [00:09:00] get through hard things. You guys like when we can't get into the condo, we figure it out and it might take a while and we might have to find a cafe to sit at with our luggage while that happens. Or maybe some of us might just sit on the stoop. Right, but creating discomfort in your life through travel is such an excellent way to understand your capacity to problem solve. You know, Travel requires patience.
And I think that patience is something that we, many of us are lacking myself included. If you've been listening for any length of time, I am always laughing about how impatient I am when I travel. It's no different, but. Aye. Act. In a very intentional way. So when I travel, my goal is to be more patient.
Like I [00:10:00] hold it in front of me. Like a bouquet of flowers, like just be patient, because it's not about where we're going to go and what we're going to get to. So many times travel is a mindful exercise in just being where you are. I mean like it or not. Right. As I was sitting there on the stoop to that condo waiting to get in, I was just like looking around and going, whoa, this place is awesome. We are going to have so much fun here.
I wonder what's on the menu down there. I wonder where the closest market is. Right. And using these kind of difficult, uncomfortable experiences to practice things like. Patients. You know, we traveled all over the whole country of Portugal. We went out to, um, the countryside where they have, um, wine there's this [00:11:00] place called the Douro valley and it's amazingly beautiful.
It's they grow grapes on these terrorist. Um, In, uh, in this huge Gorge where river runs and just right up the side of these Rocky mountains in terrorist. Organization, which is spectacular. Even if you don't even drink the, this is a beautiful place to go. You know, And we learn right. Along with the discomfort.
One day, we're going to catch a train, like a little, you know, um, town to town train, where we could get from our little town to like two towns over. So we could go and get some lunch and walk around. Do some shopping, have some fun. But we didn't understand how to get on the train at the train station. We didn't.
We, again? We don't speak Portuguese and the signs didn't feel, um, [00:12:00] comprehensive to us. And so we were standing kind of in the wrong spot. When the train came, actually we were impatient and gave up, started walking away. Then I heard the train. Then we had to make a hot run for it. And we were standing on the wrong side of the train tracks.
So we basically had to walk across the train tracks and across all these rocks and kind of look like idiots. Right. And get on the train kind of, um, John said hobo style and I just started cracking up because it was, it was like, come on, we're getting on. And it's getting moving, you know? We learned. Things, how to get on the train, not to worry what other people thought of us.
Right. This, my friend is the adventure of travel that I adore. Is that we can kind of.
Reach into ourselves and find parts of ourselves that we don't usually [00:13:00] see in our everyday life. That girl like running for the train and willing to kind of get on it when it was starting to go. That person doesn't really live in me on a daily basis, but I've made contact with her now and I'm going to bring her out more often.
Do you know what I mean by that? So it's like, These travel experiences in rich, who we already are and help us find parts of ourself. That we didn't even know were there. That's why it's so beautiful for personal growth project. And then I guess the last time. With the last thing I'll say is it's really good to just go different places and. Um, just notice how people live differently, right?
Like people don't live the same everywhere you go. And so it was no different in Portugal from the top of the country to the very, very [00:14:00] bottom of the country, the beautiful Al Garvey where everybody is and their mother is going right now on vacation holiday. Like. We.
We just sunk into the lifestyle. And when you sink into a lifestyle, you start to understand how people live differently. So it's one thing to get a hotel room. It's another thing to like, get a condo. Um, and see how do other people live? Like, how is their house set up different than ours? How are their dishes different?
They heat the water much, much differently, right? Like the whole plumbing system is entirely different and we could go, well, ours is better. But what I like to do for, to get the maximum benefit out of travel is just to appreciate the difference. One of the things that I came back with just as a lifestyle habit in general is that [00:15:00] the food in Portugal is so much less salted. Than it is in the states.
And I put salt on everything. And eating in Portugal where they don't even bring you salt. Is so interesting because it kind of changed my palette, my habit of eating at first, I was like, gosh, I wish this was a little bit saltier. Like I wish there was like more flavor here. And then I realized, no, no, no friend, it's not over salted.
And our food is really over salted, which isn't great for us. Right. And so it's funny because when you travel like that again, whether you go to a new restaurant in the next. Town over, whether you go somewhere for the weekend and have a little adventure, you just kind of take away these tiny little bits. About your lifestyle.
So I haven't salted anything since I got home. And it's so [00:16:00] fun. Like just not to using so much salt on my food, it's just not necessary. I delicious food and I've been really like, just tasting it and it's not salty now. I still love my chips. They're still my favorite food mats. Never going to change. The point is. Traveling. Going somewhere else being part of a different culture, a different country, or even just the different town for a hot second. It's very enriching.
If that's what we intend to get out of it. We will totally come away with life lessons and things we want to work on and a little bit of an expansion of our brain. It was so good for me to get away. It's really empowering, but also for me, It was very creatively inspirational for me. It brought out this side of me that like is like wanting more color, [00:17:00] more pop in my life.
Um, if you're watching on YouTube, I'm holding up these coal. Pieces of clothing that I brought back that are just incredibly vibrant and not stuff that I would typically wear. Look at this dress. It's so cute. And then these are my fabulous Portuguese party PS. So if you're not watching on YouTube, maybe you need to pop on over and check these party pants out there.
Awesome. A warm last night out to dinner. Traveling is so good for us. Do a little bit, just try it, you know? I, um, I'll leave you with this. Travel travel or trying new things, whatever it is that you're able to do. It's not only enriching. But hipping can be kind of funny. Like last week I wanted to try this new place for happy hour that we had never been before.
And we walked in and the place was an [00:18:00] old folks dining hall. Oh, the joy of new experiences. Get out there and have a good laugh at the different adventures that travel presents. Okay, I'll see you on the next trip around.
Speaker: Thanks so much for joining me today. To support this free resource, subscribe, review, and pass an episode along to a friend in need. And always, please get the level of support that you need for your situation. Want a full session? Just reach out. I'm here to help. Head to TakeOutTherapy. com for lots more resources and to join my community.
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