How Solo Travel Benefits My Mental Health

Two months into working from home amidst a global pandemic, I went stir-crazy. Only one person physically saw me experience this, as that lucky guy was confined to the same 1,000 square-foot home as me for two months straight. I imagine *Jessi going stir-crazy* looked something like this through my boyfriend’s perspective:

Nino enters the living room. A normally energetic and talkative Jessi is sitting on the couch staring silently out the window.

“Jess?” Nino asks hesitantly and braces himself for a presumably unpleasant reaction.

Tear-streaked Jessi turns her head towards him.

“WAAHHH.” She whines and sniffles.

“What’s wrong?” Nino tenderly asks. He appears to have all the time in the world to listen to an emotional woman’s problems.

“I don’t LIKE IT!!”

“What don’t you like?”

“LIFE!” She sobs.

“Oh, how unfortunate. What are you gonna do about it?”

“CHANGE IT!” She shouts triumphantly.

“How?”

She hesitates and wipes the tears away, pondering all possibilities.

“Before I can answer you, I must consult with myself first.” She concludes.

“Um, okay?”

“Yeah, just one moment, Nino. Let me go inward and reflect.”

She closes her eyes and appears constipated for a moment before saying, “Nope, it’s not working.”

“What’s not working?” Nino asks gently.

“My brain. I’m too trapped to think.”

“You should probably create some space, then.”

“Space… s p a c e . . .” Jessi can feel a lightbulb forming until BOOM, it appears right above her head!

“I’LL CREATE SOME SPACE!” She announces.

Less than 24 hours later, she is in her car driving four hours to this place called Space she just booked the night before.

Mental Health Blog Disclaimer

I am not a medical professional, therapist, or mental healthcare professional. The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only, comes from my own personal experiences, and may be read, interpreted, and practiced at your own risk. Do not rely on this information as a substitute to medical advice or treatment from a healthcare professional.

That was me in May of 2020. I took my very first solo trip to Kansas City, Missouri. It was close enough to drive to quickly but far enough to feel the distance between me and my problems. Before I could make life better for myself, I needed time and space to think on my own. For some reason staring at the same walls every day wasn’t doing it for me. I craved a change in scenery and separation from people. So, I set out on my first solo trip with a purpose. I needed to make a few decisions for myself without the influence of others.

Sometimes, no matter how grateful I try to be and no matter how wonderful and healthy my current situation is, I still manage to complain. I constantly remind myself that I need to find a balance between appreciating what I have and accepting that it’s okay to want more. At the time of my first solo trip, I wanted more for myself. I knew I needed to make some lifestyle changes, but I was very conflicted about the course of action I needed to take. I kept asking too many people for advice, and I kept comparing myself to what I saw on social media. I was being pulled in different directions and struggled to recognize what I was supposed to be focusing on. I needed to turn off the outside noise and delve inward. And that was the reason I drove my car 250 miles to be alone for four days.

It turns out that the silence had a lot to teach me. So, I want to share my takeaways from this trip just in case I can be the tipping point that makes you go on your first solo adventure. Here are a few mental health benefits of traveling solo.

I was able to do whatever I wanted without disappointing others. No one was judging me or influencing my actions.

I got to design four days exactly how I desired. Therefore, I found myself doing what was most important to me. I spent so many silent moments writing in my journal and doing yoga. I experienced so much pleasure walking for miles around a new city and found that I was much more present without the distraction of other people. Kansas City was still familiar, ole Missouri, and yet it was different. I felt refreshed as I mindfully took in the views and conversed with myself.

You know, if you love talking, talking to yourself is pretty great because you’re always going to be interested in what you have to say and you won’t have to listen to anyone else.

Being alone gave me the chance to be bored. 

I find I don’t often get that luxury with my busy lifestyle. When I feel bored, I have to get creative to pass the time. During my solo trip, the boredom allowed me to conjure up the very best ideas. Since I only had me, myself, and I for company, no one else had to be entertained. So, again, there was no one to disappoint.

I got to know myself deeper.

I thought I knew myself pretty well before this trip. But I’m telling you, I got to know myself even better during those four solitary days. Talking to myself sparked feelings and ideas I didn’t realize I had about certain areas of my life. I went on that trip with a purpose to figure some shit out, and PEOPLE, I was successful. With no influence but my own, I traveled the path I truly wanted to take. Some revelations I made were surprising, which goes to show that I had gotten too comfortable with allowing others to sway me.

A new environment evoked a new life perspective.

These days, I am a person who longs for change. Simply surrounding myself with a different environment can make me think in new ways. Stepping into a shiny, new city allowed me to view my life from a completely different angle. This new perspective shed light on possibilities I simply could not have conjured back in the prison-like confinement I call home. Okay, my house isn’t that bad, but it’s pretty plain. Especially when I’m stuck there for months on end.

It’s so important to learn how to shift your perspective. Vacations, for me, are always positive, light, and euphoric because they almost don’t feel real. Trips away from home are outside of normal, monotonous reality and routine and are set hundreds of miles away from the stressors in my life. Putting distance between me and my triggers lifts me up into the air. I literally feel lighter being away, and this is because I’m running away from things that normally drag me down. For example, my laptop full of emails was 250 miles away during this trip. They couldn’t bother me in KC!!

I gained trust in myself.

While journaling about the specific lifestyle changes I wanted to make for myself, I was confronted with a shocking sense of personal trust. I couldn’t ask my boyfriend, family, or best friend for their advice, so I simply had to believe I could figure things out on my own. Since I tend to be dependent on bouncing my ideas off of others, this gave me the chance to be completely independent. By the end of that four-day retreat, I had gained some well-deserved self confidence.

Solo travel makes me stronger by giving me the chance to overcome anxiety.

The final major takeaway from this solo trip was the opportunity to overcome certain anxieties. Though I love, love, love traveling, it never fails to bring me anxiety, as well. Travel is unknown, uncertain, and different. And those three things can really scare me sometimes. It put me on edge knowing I didn’t have anyone else next to me in case something went wrong. But I planned enough to prepare myself for worst-case scenarios, and I kept driving even when I felt so anxious I was sweating. I exposed myself to my fears, and by the time I solo tripped again, I was more accustomed to the experience and much less afraid.

Later in the summer of 2020, I set off on my second solo trip. I traveled to St. Joseph, Michigan, and that trip was another spontaneous decision I made just a few days before leaving. The reason I had for traveling alone wasn’t that I was in emotional distress that time. I just wanted to hang out with myself in a pretty place. And now, I adore solo travel just as much as traveling alongside people. I love it so much that I really just might spend my birthday traveling alone this year. Who knows! If you’ve been craving a change in scenery and considering this type of adventure, here is your sign.