Guest Author: Hannah M.
“Selfcare – The practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health.”
Self-care has become increasingly popular in a busy world. People are spending more time on themselves and focusing on making themselves happier! The term may mean something different to everyone. Sometimes it’s a massage, getting your nails done or simply having a bubble bath with a face mask. Basically, it is whatever you like doing to make yourself feel happier and more relaxed.
How do self-care and travel relate? You need to get away. The average person doesn’t take enough time off to relax and it is getting harder and harder to plan time for yourself. Days are filled with work and home life and weekends are busy catching up with odd jobs that were missed during the week. Limited days of annual leave are precious, and we don’t want to waste these on days off to visit the spa in town, instead we save them to travel abroad or enjoy a longer Christmas break.
Increasingly, I find myself traveling for selfcare. Feeling a bit down in the dumps and suddenly finding myself on the flight’s website sky-scanner searching with the keywords “travel everywhere” and “cheapest month,” looking for the best flights. Traveling is my savior, it is by far my favorite hobby and I always return full of energy and far more alive than I left.
Travel is necessary and full of selfcare benefits, improving both mental and overall health. Getting away means not having to deal with everyday distractions, being miles away from everything that causes stress, like work and school. Even if there is nothing massively weighing you down, no one can deny that rush hour-traffic and washing the dishes every day is draining.
Personally, I find the best way of travelling for selfcare is volunteering abroad. It is no surprise that volunteering abroad makes us feel good. The act of helping others who are less fortunate is very rewarding. A volunteer abroad trip is much more than simply helping abroad; it is a complete cultural exchange. Living as the locals do, working and communicating with them every day. The act of getting away and volunteering abroad is so powerful. Travelers who get away twice a year are less likely to feel depressed or suffer from mental illness.
It needn’t be an overly extravagant trip of 6 months committed to building a village by yourself on the other side of the world. Simply a week or two to any project, near or far, can make a huge difference. Even the act of planning a trip and having something to look forward to is enough to perk me up, then when I am actually in the country helping make a difference to a community, I feel much better.
I always return from volunteer trips with a new perspective on life and a much better version of myself. Most importantly, I am much happier and more productive and motivated. The volunteering almost pays for itself from how much work I get done after returning. You can’t put a price on health.
Meet the writer...
Hannah is a travel and lifestyle writer who enjoys encouraging others to embarks on adventures across the globe and see more of the world. You can check out more of her advice and adventures over at www.TwentySixOTwo.com
