At the base of all this world does wrong, you will find three things: prejudice, ignorance, and bigotry. This mind-set comes from allowing ourselves to be insular, lack empathy, and only become familiar with our small part of the world. If we could just get over this mind set we would realize how much greater our world is, and how much greater we as individuals can become.
So how do we change our mind-set? What will allow us to get past these three bases? That is simple: Travel.
Mark Twain explained this concept best, he stated that “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
When you go outside your comfort zone and start to really look at the world for what it truly is, those mind-sets slowly start to fade away. Travel exposes you to many new things that your familiar area never could; experiences, history, religion, culture. Eventually you will even see travel expose you to a better self.
There are three things that are certain to happen each time you travel.
1. Feel Alive
More than likely you have heard that to be happy you must live in the moment. But in this world it is hard to live in the moment when you work a nine-to-five job and have a life full of scheduled events. It is easy to get caught up in all of it and before you know it, time has passed you by. But the thing about traveling is that when you go somewhere new, your mind goes with you. All of a sudden it is easy to live in the moment. You no longer have to worry about schedules or what you are going to do next.
2. Become less ignorant
From the moment we are born, a certain way of thinking and living is put into our head. These perceptions are molded into our brain and they become hard to change. Even just visiting somewhere new, you may find yourself with your mind still closed to the things around you. The only way to get past this is to put you right in the middle of it. Once you do that, I guarantee that you will begin to see thing in a whole new light.
3. Find a better self
Constant challenges come your way when you travel. You are challenged with preconceiving idea, how to communicate when others do not speak your language, and to meet new people. You must learn to step out of your comfort zone to navigate your way around new places. And when the sense of fear starts to come over you because you are lost in an unfamiliar place, you learn to open up you mind and figure out what needs to happen in order to get back on track. Once you face all these challenges during traveling, you come back a better person, you are no longer afraid to step outside your comfort zone because you know that you have the ability to overcome anything that may be thrown your way.
