Traveling Broadens the Mind

Traveling broadens the mind

"Traveling broadens the mind more than reading." says a very popular Turkish proverb. It is true as long as one embraces experiences with an open mind. Traveling is seeing new countries, meeting new people, experiencing new things, learning a different side of life and more. It is in short the adventurous outdoor class trip to different cultures, different languages, different political climates and different histories.

As the saying goes, “The wise man's home is the universe." - Democrites (born c. 460 BC). This is especially true as mankind’s knowledge is often confided to the four corners of the wall, the same orders in life, the limited cultures in one place. By traveling, it enriches the mind by cultivating a positive and constructive thinking pattern in a person’s mindset.

Traveling also opens many senses in one’s life. “Wanderlust,” is a German loanword which loosely means, the love of travel. Besides changing the perspective of mindsets, it also changes a person’s way of accepting cultures. From China to Italy, from Greece to Arab, and from America to Russia, different geographical continents have a vast share of cultures. Traveling opens the eyes and heart of an individual in accepting something different of the norm.

Moreover, traveling encourages us to learn and adapt. Many individuals who travel constantly will face language barriers, thus forcing them to learn and embrace a new language to “survive” in a particular place. Not only that, by adapting in a new place, it gives others a chance to learn more from us. Exchanging thoughts, ideas and skills with others from different places and or countries will broaden our minds and it helps especially in the area of complicated problem solving.

No matter where we are, stereotypes will always exist. Why? Often times, we judge and perceive things without even investigating. The mass media, the mainstream information, contributes to how we see things today. Traveling enables us to create experience with an open mind and it also helps to eliminate or to minimize stereotypes as we gather information first hand, without any third party. Also, as we see the real way things are being put into action, we are giving others a chance by not being judgmental and accepting people for who they are.

As we travel to visit another country, it gives us the sense that we are the representation of our own country. It also gives us the chance to open the world up for our world. We are the window to the world as others are windows to their world. Traveling helps us appreciate diversity but at the same time it we gain sensitivity to see and respect how other people would do their work.

In summary, I would liken the experience of traveling to this quote: “As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own.” – (Margaret Mead, 1901-1978). It is not the act of traveling that broadens our minds, but the mindset that travels along with us that will bring a person far in life.