10 Reasons Why Road Trips Are Good For The Soul

Life is hard and there's no point in pretending otherwise. Many of us on a day-to-day basis have to endure a lot of struggles from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to sleep at night, and while that may sound a little bit 'over the top,' that's just the way it is.

One way in which some folks decide to release some stress is by going on a road trip. It may not sound like the most daring thing you could possibly do, but through this article, you may come to understand why it can be such a soothing experience.

10 Time To Reflect On Life

There’s no point in sitting down and pretending like everything is okay 100% of the time, because it’s not, and it’s great to be able to admit that. Sometimes, you just need to be able to clear your head, not think about anything else, and just allow the miles that you travel to enhance your clarity on life.

You don’t have to be moving at a million miles an hour in order to feel alive, or in order to feel like you’re fulfilling some kind of purpose. On a road trip, you can really begin to understand that.

9 Less Stress About Money

Purely from a logistical point of view, it’s going to be cheaper to fill up the gas tank every so often than to fork out money on other ways of getting around. When you don’t have that concern of thinking about where the next set of cash for food is going to come from, then a lot of your stress dissolves into nothing.

Plus, when planning a road trip, there’s often a pretty good planning process beforehand which allows you to pre-arrange what you’re going to spend things on.

Either way, though, both techniques work equally as well as one another.

8 Explore The Countryside

Cities are wonderful and they’re really fun to explore, but there’s a big question to be discussed as to what value they hold in comparison to the countryside. From a financial point of view, sure, they’re much more profitable, but when it comes to mental health and your general wellbeing, it’s much better to be surrounded by the beauty of the country.

One of the best parts about it is that you always get the opportunity to discover more than you did before, which is a trait that you can really expose regardless of what country you live in.

7 Forget About Work

Whether it be a deadline that has just been and gone or a potential promotion that is dangling overhead like a carrot, none of that matters on a road trip. The focus and the mentality shift completely because you get to put all of that chaos and noise to one side in the name of doing things your way for once.

The temptation will be there to check the occasional email or two, but pushing that voice out is the most important way of moving forward with a successful and care-free road trip.

6 Enjoy Your Music

It doesn’t really matter whether it’s rock & roll, pop, grime, or anything in between, because the great thing about a road trip is that there are no restrictions. Listening to music in a car is a completely different experience regardless of what your taste is, because that song then becomes synonymous with whatever you’re doing at that moment in time.

Putting some tunes on when you’re going for a run or trying to get an assignment done is one thing, but that’s nothing more than a distraction. Here, you’re given the opportunity to really focus on the lyrics and the sound of the song.

5 Experience Different Cultures

Whether it’s visiting a new place for the first time or just stopping off for gas, there are new cultures to be explored within every single corner of the globe. If you’re on the right continent then you could continue to travel from new country to new country to new country and beyond — experiencing a vast array of cultures along the way.

This isn’t exactly an integral part of any good road trip, but even something as small as trying out another restaurant could be considered a way in which to ‘experience’ a different culture. There’s no rule book here.

4 Make Memories With Friends & Family

The old saying is that we’ve only got one life so we should just shut up and live it, and as stereotypical as that may seem, it’s true. The friends and family that we surround ourselves with aren’t going to be around forever, and that’s a harsh reality that we all must face.

As such, it’s important to fill the days with memories that you can look back on in 10 or 20 years and think “wow, that was pretty special.” It truly is the little things that really matter.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and beyond are all incredibly addictive tools, and they can all be used for good. At the same time, they can also be abused, to the point where they no longer become fun anymore.

Perhaps the idea of not using any of them throughout the course of a road trip isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but at the very least, restricting your usage can be great for your own state of mind. By simply looking up from that smartphone, a whole new world of possibilities can be discovered.

2 No Public Transport Schedule

Trains can be late, buses can be uncomfortable and planes can be downright scary – and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, they can also be really fun. However, they can also be incredibly unreliable, which is one of the primary reasons why a road trip is so effective and handy.

You don’t have to work to anyone else’s schedule, and it’s all about what those participating in the road trip want to do and when they want to do it. There’s far less hassle, and as a result, nowhere near as much stress.

1 It’s An Adventure

Whatever may be on the agenda, from stopping off to go bungee jumping or going across the United States from New York City to Los Angeles, every single part of a road trip forms a brand new piece of the puzzle – and a brand new adventure to go alongside it.

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It’s important to push yourself outside the realms of your comfort zone from time to time because that’s the kind of thing that makes your soul smile. It sounds cliché and a little bit corny, but it’s what makes us feel alive again.