Coping With Stress

Have you been stuck in a rut lately?

Wondering if there is more to life than what you are seeing at home?

THE MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF SEEING OTHER PLACES AND CULTURES:

Have you ever taken a trip somewhere and felt like you were gone much longer than you actually were?

Novelty helps create new neural pathways and livens our senses, often leading to memorable experiences you can vividly recall years later. Stepping out of our usual routine and experiencing new things—whether a week in an exotic locale, or an afternoon in a museum or park you’ve never visited before—is an excellent way to invite more joy, curiosity, and adventure into your life.

Even something as simple as taking a new route to work, or riding your bike instead of driving, can spark these positive emotions and challenge our brains in healthy ways.

Variety really is the spice of life! HOW TO LOOK AT LIFE FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

A simple conversation about travel experiences can really help people gain perspective on different ways of life. I’d encourage people to really talk about their travels and take the leap and travel to other countries. Even crossing our own borders to Canada and Mexico can reveal some vast differences significant enough to give us perspective. Getting out of our daily routines and experiencing other places and cultures gives us an opportunity to take a step back from our “norms” and puts life into perspective.

There really is a tremendous benefit to seeing how the rest of the world lives. It can be on both sides of the financial comfort spectrum too. Seeing how the super wealthy live can be exciting, but also be a huge turn off to people in the middle class. Seeing how less financially fortunate cultures live can be a real eye opener and really make you appreciate what you have.

Your mental health is based on your experience with your life, not comparing your life with what others have.