When I was younger, I told people I wanted to travel the world.

Some of them laughed.

Where I grew up, travelling the world wasn’t something many people did. It felt like one of those dreams that belonged to somebody else.

But something inside me refused to let the dream go. One trip became another.

Australia. Thailand. India. Nepal. And many more along the way.

I thought I was travelling to see the world. I didn’t realise how much the world would change me.

Travel Showed Me There Was More Than One Way to Live

My first big trip was to Australia. It opened my eyes to a much bigger world and made me realise that I didn’t necessarily have to stay within the limits I had grown up believing.

Then I discovered Thailand.

It became my favourite place in the world, and it was also where I discovered Buddhism.

That discovery would go on to change my life. I began to see the world, and myself, differently.

I travelled to India and was lucky enough to see the Dalai Lama.

I visited Nepal, including a children’s home after the devastating earthquakes.

What stayed with me wasn’t just what I saw. It was the people I met.

The resilience, kindness and joy I witnessed reminded me that happiness and hope can exist even after unimaginable loss.

Travel Changed My Mindset

Travel gave me so much more than passport stamps. It introduced me to different cultures, beliefs, traditions and ways of living.

Every place challenged something I thought I knew.

And each experience expanded my understanding of people and the world around me.

There are things you can learn from books, courses and conversations.

But there are also things you only learn by experiencing them. Travel taught me to be more open‑minded.

It taught me that there isn’t always one right way to live.

It taught me to question some of the beliefs I had grown up with.

And perhaps most importantly, it taught me that the world is much bigger than the one I had originally imagined for myself.

The Journey That Changed How I Saw Myself

Looking back, I don’t think travelling just changed where I’d been.

It changed how I saw the world.

It changed how I saw other people.

And it changed how I saw myself.

I’m so grateful that 20‑year‑old me didn’t let other people’s laughter become my limits.

Because sometimes the people around us can only see the possibilities that exist within their own experience.

That doesn’t mean those are the limits of yours.

Sometimes the biggest journey isn’t the one across the world. It’s the one that expands your mind.

And perhaps that’s what I was really searching for all those years ago.

I thought I wanted to see the world.

The world helped me see myself differently. 💜

Has a place, a person or an experience ever changed the way you see the world?