How Travel Changes How You See Life

September 25, 2025 · Passion

By Bill Carmody

On June 30th, I left my home in New York and flew to Ireland and have not been home since. At the age of 52, I’m 25 years happily married, have two lovely children (18 and 21) and my plan is to travel the world for an year with a 44-liter backpack. The three most common reactions I get are “You’re nuts!”, “How?” or “Why?” Before reading any further, I wonder which is your reaction and, if it’s not one of these, then take a moment to consider what is it for you. 

Travel changes how you see life in many ways, but the most common are: 

  1. Breaking up your daily routines and challenging you to keep the ones you value
  2. Exposing you to entirely different ways of living and seeing possible improvements 
  3. Meeting people from all over the world and discovering the root of our humanity 
  4. Learning the interconnected oneness of all life and how each of us are connected 
  5. Discovering what we truly value, what we invest in and what we take for granted

For many people, this is a lot of change and with it comes a deep fear of the unknown. How will it be when I’m completely out of my comfort zone and in a new part of the world? What do I do when nearly everything I’ve come to rely on seems to shift and I must adjust to something new? 

And yet, what we discover is just how resilient we truly are when the need arises. 

Travel Changes How You See Life

When my creature comforts are disrupted and my daily routines are broken up, I’m challenged to keep the ones I value. For example, I believe my daily habits are the cornerstone of my success, specifically: MEDS-RX which stands for Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep, Relationships and my X-Factor. 

When it comes to my meditation, I can do 25 minutes every morning anywhere, anytime, no matter what. But what about exercise? Sure, I can run, but I’ve started a regular weight lifting routine and that’s led me to seek out gyms. If the house or hotel I’m staying in doesn’t have one, it’s extra effort to go find one, but it’s worth it. That discovery alone leads me to new and interesting parts of the place where I’m visiting. 

My diet may change from location to location, but I can still eat healthy and make healthy choices everywhere I go. For the most part, I maintain my regular sleep hygiene of going to bed around 10pm and getting up at 6am daily. Which leaves my relationships with my family and friends and whatever X-Factor I’m currently working on that’s important to me and my continued growth. For relationships, I make the effort to stay connected to those who I love and I never forget what I’m currently working on so that I make progress daily.

Why Travel Changes How You See Life

And the why includes all the rest. By exposing me to different ways of living and seeing improvements, I am discovering the root of our humanity; I’m seeing the interconnected oneness of all life and how each of us are connected. I’m discovering what I truly value, what I invest in and what I take for granted. These discoveries are abundant and daily. I love them.  

If you had a year to travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Share your thoughts with our community in the Age Brilliantly forum.

Bill Carmody is a bestselling author, TEDx speaker and top 1% coach. He has helped over 100,000 coaches become mentally fit and more than 10,000 build and scale their coaching business. He is also the creator of AskBill.us