Travel Blogging: The Psychological Benefits

Take the case of London blogger Emily, who found that blogging helped her “push personal boundaries and become a more confident person.” Read on to discover how travel is a fast track to improved self-esteem and self-confidence, provided you’re open to going beyond your comfort zone!

What is the Difference Between Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem?

Self-confidence and self-esteem are often used interchangeably, but they are two vastly different concepts. Self-confidence is your belief in yourself and your abilities. Self-esteem, on the other hand, refers to whether you appreciate and value yourself. Low self-esteem can cause you to develop a strong critical internal voice (an inner critic) that expresses itself loudest when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed. For instance, when you listen to your inner critic, you can think negatively about yourself, believe your negative thoughts are always true, ignore your strengths and abilities, expect the worst, avoid challenges or situations where you believe others could judge or criticize you, and think you don’t have the right to have fun. 

Is Self-Esteem an Impossible Nut to Crack?

As is probably evident by now, self-esteem lies considerably deeper than confidence about doing certain things. It is intricately tied into core beliefs about yourself. You develop these beliefs during your childhood as a result of your experience, the people who surrounded you in childhood, and the extent of healthy love, affection, and care you received. However, self-esteem can change through experience as well. And that’s where travel blogging can come into the picture.

How Travel Blogging Can Boost Your Self-Confidence

It is easy to see the many ways in which travel blogging increases self-confidence—as it requires the interplay of so many skills, ranging from booking flights to finding the best connection between trains, going up to people you don’t know and asking for information, and using maps to get around. Travel blogging also boosts your planning skills. Even if you’re traveling to an English-speaking, easy-access destination like Waianae in Hawaii or the island of Coron in the Philippines, choosing the most useful, attractive, potentially useful sites for your blog is a skill you sharpen as the years go by. Finding off-the-beaten spots in Waianae, for instance, takes research into everything from unique spots like the Sacred Bird Sanctuary and Trail at Ka’ena State Park, to working out how you will travel between different trails and parks, the best time to visit tide-dependent sites like the Mermaid Caves, and more. Putting your effort into planning and seeing the fruits of your hard work undoubtedly makes you feel more confident in everything from organization to budgeting. 

Travel Blogging and Self-Esteem

Ceasing to listen to your inner critic takes hard work. It involves thinking about your core beliefs, how they developed, and working to counter negative ideas about what you are capable of. This aim is traditionally achieved in three main ways in modern psychology: by reframing negative thoughts into positive ones based on actual evidence (as in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), through the acceptance of difficult thoughts accompanied by a commitment to change (as in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), and by simply experimenting with new behaviors (to prove your inner critic wrong). This last approach is where travel blogging can play a big part.

Traveling to a Secret Place Within

It is easy to see how poor self-esteem can stop you from traveling the world and sharing your experiences with others. For instance, if your inner critic tells you that “you’re just no good with people,” then launching a blog or vlog channel puts this belief to the test by “forcing you,” in the best possible way, out of your comfort zone. Travel blogging is not the solitary pursuit that many people think it is. It involves building a network, creating sometimes profound and fruitful relationships with followers, and creating synergies with other creators. Travel calls you to exercise a host of skills you may not think you were any good at—including starting conversations, embracing physical and mental challenges during adventures, and expressing yourselves on camera and through the written word. As such, you not only grow more confident about performing specific tasks but also silence the voice inside you that says you are “just no good” at a myriad of things.

Conclusion:

Of the many professions that exist in the world, travel blogging is undoubtedly one of the most challenging and rewarding all at once. It permits you to work on your self-confidence and self-esteem at once. It is not just about learning how to plan a trip or budget wisely, but also about reframing the negative ideas you may have had about yourself by letting your experiences prove them wrong.

So, no matter where you go or what profession you choose, always remember to Travel Till You Drop!