This is a contradiction, but while I travel a lot, I have a lot of travel-related anxiety. Let me explain. As far as I can tell, I travel much more than the average person and I don’t think I have anxiety about going to places I already know.
However, if you were to ask me to leave for a completely new place, such as a country I’ve never visited, I would have a lot of travel-related anxiety. I also have some anxiety just before leaving a place, even if I know that the place can be bad.
This last part is particularly interesting, as even though I know that the next place can be much better, I still feel a sense of travel anxiety in my bones. I think this is just psychology, as evolutionarily speaking, change is risky and moving to a new place comes with the possibility of new dangers, especially places which we have never been to and places that we’ve heard something negative about.
It could be something insignificant, really, but this is how people are programmed, with a survival mechanism that can get in the way of rational thinking.
Yes, travel anxiety can be diminished by doing some logical thinking, as doing research about our fears can significantly diminish negative thinking. For example, we could research how safe our destination is and realize that the place we are in is actually more dangerous than we portrayed the next place to be.
Some people have a fear of flying, but personally, I sleep even through the harshest turbulence. I’m not worried, as statistically speaking, turbulence rarely happens in the first place, there are thousands of commercial flights flying all over the world, and flight-related accidents are less probable than being in a car accident.
I guess this logic won’t completely remove all your travel anxiety, but it certainly will help. Overall, we should use cost-benefit analysis to make decisions rather than leaving it to our emotions, which will make us fat, lazy, and negative. Yes, travel anxiety can say that perhaps we shouldn’t do it for reasons a, b, and c, but if we compare what we are gaining by going traveling, it becomes hands down a good decision.
Traveling provides us with much-needed novelty, addresses limiting beliefs created by constantly being in the same place, and naturally makes people happy. No matter how you look at it, you should prioritize and schedule travel on a semi-regular basis, even if you are afraid, as it is good for your soul.
Related blog posts:
“Go Traveling” and “Happy travels!” Says Happiness Research
10 Years Rule: For Tourism, Traveling, And Happiness
