Your Thursday Three Things for May 8, 2025
Why You Need to Leave Home to Find Yourself!
Last week, we talked about adventure and how even micro-adventures can build macro-resilience. That conversation sparked a lot of reflection… because there’s one kind of adventure that carries a particular kind of power:
✈️ Travel.
Not the vacation kind. Not the trip where you’re checking email from the hotel pool.
I’m talking about real travel.
The kind that makes your senses sharper and your inner voice louder. The kind that feels unfamiliar enough to wake something up inside you.
There’s something deeply human about the urge to go… to wander, to explore, to put distance between who we are and where we’ve been. When we step outside the bubble of our everyday lives, we shed the labels and routines that quietly shape our identity.
And in that space, we often rediscover who we were meant to be all along.
💡 Science backs this up:
New environments stimulate dopamine 🔥 (motivation + learning)
Travel boosts neuroplasticity 🧠 (new mental connections)
It reduces stress, builds empathy, and strengthens mental health 💪
But even more than that…
Travel humbles you.
It gives you perspective.
It stretches your capacity for patience, presence, and problem-solving.
And those aren’t just vacation perks, they’re life tools. 🎯
So whether you’re road-tripping a few hours from home or finally booking that flight you’ve been putting off… don’t just think of travel as escape.
Think of it as initiation.
🎙️ Will and I explored this exact theme in this week’s episode of Men Talking Mindfulness. If this idea hits home, give it a listen here:
https://pod.fo/e/2d0dc9
🚀 Your Three Things … Resources to Travel With Purpose:
📖 Book: The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton
A philosophical (and often funny) deep-dive into why we travel. It’ll reframe how you see every trip—from airport lounges to mountaintop views.💸 Tool: Skyscanner Price Alerts
Set alerts for your dream destination—or let “Everywhere” surprise you. Great for spontaneous souls and strategic budgeters alike.🤝 Site: Workaway.info
Travel the world in exchange for food + housing. Help on farms, teach English, stay with host families. Live deeply in the culture instead of just passing through.
Don’t wait for the “perfect” time. It won’t come.
And definitely don’t wait until life forces you to shake things up.
🌍 Go … before routine convinces you to stay.
With you on the path,
– Jon