9 ways solo travel gives you a growth mindset

Hey travel bugs!

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, solo travel changes you as a person and definitely changes your mindset! Travelling alone helps you form a growth mindset.

There I’ve said it…

When I went on my first ever solo trip to Hong Kong for a year, I arrived in Hong Kong as one person and returned home as a completely different person.

That year changed my life.

The whole experience changed me, my mindset and the way I would live my life moving forwards. 

Solo travel is a great way to develop yourself as a person and grow.

It’s kind of hard to explain for those who haven’t solo travelled before, but it’s kind of like having a wake up call where everything is so clear and you see things in a different light.

It has definitely changed me and made ME see things in a different light, which is why I would recommend it for everyone, even if it’s a small trip within your own country.

At least it’s a step in the right direction!

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Solo travelling helps you form a GROWTH mindset in the way that you want to learn, develop and grow because you’ve experienced things that you can only experience by travelling.

Before we go any further let’s clarify something…

What is a growth mindset?

I guess the name is in the title…

…GROWTH mindset.

Having a growth mindset means that you are open to developing yourself and reaching your goals. 

You want to grow as a person to improve yourself and you’re therefore open to learning and having new experiences.

Ways solo travel helps develop a growth mindset

1. It makes you more openminded

In another post, I talk about how solo travel makes you more open-minded.

Open-mindedness is certainly something that contributes to developing a growth mindset because it means you’re open to new ideas, beliefs and experiences.

Related posts: Why solo travel makes your more open-minded

2. You become more confident

Solo travel is a very independent thing to do.

…That sounds quite patronizing!

You’re jetting off on your own without anyone there to guide you. It’s massive and something to be proud of and excited about!

Although you may be super scared and have so many worries in your head at first, if you’re able to cope, you’ll feel like you can accomplish anything!

Honestly!

When you travel alone, without sounding too pessimistic, you have to learn to fend for yourself.

You’re often in a foreign place and completely thrown out of your comfort zone. These kinds of experiences make you more self-confident and more confident generally.

You build confidence in your ability to make good decisions, to be able to navigate yourself around foreign countries and communicate with all kinds of people along the way.

3. You become more independent

With independence comes confidence. 

Even if you’re someone who loves to be around other people and you don’t prefer to be alone, solo travel will make you independent. 

You’re forced out of your comfort zone and forced to spend time with yourself.

There will be times when you’ll have to be alone when you’re solo travelling, whether it’s at night or on transport or sightseeing. You have to get used to being by yourself.

And if you’re like me…you’ll learn that you really value time alone!

4. You get used to using your initiative

There have been so many situations where I’ve needed to use my initiative when solo travelling because I only had myself to rely on, I went into a kind of survivor mode.

When you’re solo travelling, for many, you’re out of your comfort zone and therefore things are thrown at you that you would never normally need to think about.

So, you have to make decisions about things you would never expect to.

When you’re travelling alone you have to be flexible and able to change the plan at short notice.

You don’t realise how much this way of thinking helps you grow as a person when you’re in a completely foreign place.

You develop skills you never thought you had because you simply HAVE to.  

5. You become more cultured/culturally aware

When you travel the world, you’re able to experience different cultures and ways of life. 

You learn about traditions, norms, customs and how people actually live in other countries.

Let’s be honest, you probably have assumptions that in certain countries people live a certain ways.

Right?

But when you solo travel, you not only learning about different cultures, but you quickly learn that you can’t make assumptions because places are so diverse.  

In another post, I talked about how when I “stepped into the shoes” of locals so to speak, I learned SO MUCH about my own culture.

It also gave me the skills to interact with people of other cultures better too!

Related posts: How to make your a cultural trip of a lifetime

6. You have to think on the spot

When I’ve been travelling around, there’s been so many times when I’ve had to think on the spot, that I’m quite good at winging things and having to think about what to do in certain situations quite quickly.

When I was in the Philippines, there were so many occasions where I had to think on the spot and be flexible with my plans.

At one point in the trip, I was on a night bus to Manilla and when we were dumped at the bus station in Manilla in the dead of night, I realised that it could be quite dangerous for me.

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I didn’t have any accommodation booked to go to, I was a bit stuck.

It was probably too late and too dangerous to go around to different hostels to ask if they had room at this point.

So, I noticed that there was a group of people who looked like they were Western tourists and they were getting into a taxi. I thought that if they were getting into a taxi, they must be heading somewhere for the night.

I went over to them before the taxi drove away and asked them if they were going to a hostel and if I could join them.

They said yes!

So I followed them to their hostel and got a room in the same place. 

It was super lucky that I saw them because I could have been stranded in a Manilla bus station and I didn’t fancy getting a taxi alone at night. 

This is just one story…I have a whole (metaphorical) box full of stories where I’ve had to think and act FAST.

Trust me… thinking fast on the spot is something learned over time and when you’re forced to do it travelling alone, you become an expert. This is what helps you GROW as a person.

7. Your develop your knowledge

I truly believe that through solo travel you can learn so much more about the world than you can in any other context.

You learn through experiencing.

…And there’s no better way of learning!

This is so true, and when you apply this idea to other situations, it makes you realise that experience really does make you grow.

When you first graduate or first finish school, you often have no experience of working. It becomes hard to find a job because you do not have the work experience to demonstrate that you can work in the role well.

Once you gain experience in the field, it becomes easier to find jobs because you have a proven skill and proven knowledge. 

It’s the same with travel…

You can learn by reading about places and studying, but you’ll never have the true experience until you actually travel and build up skills and learn first hand about wonderful places.

8. Better at communication

When you solo travel, you have no alternative but to have to communicate with people from all different walks of life.

Even if you’re a bit of an introvert, you’re relying on yourself when you travel alone.

So, by default your communication skills improve dramatically.

You’re forced to talk with people from all over the world of different professions and personalities. By having to communicate in varying scenarios, you adapt and develop your skills and you GROW. 

9. More willing to learn and develop

When you travel, you explore, discover and learn. The whole idea behind travelling is to visit new places and enjoy what it has to offer…right?

Even if you’re going for a beach holiday, you’ll still need to interact with the locals, so you’ll still be immersing yourself in another culture and a new way of life, even if you don’t mean to.

In that sense, you’ll be learning and developing without even knowing or realising it.

So when you solo travel, you become so open to everything that it makes you WANT to grow and develop because you become aware of how beneficial it is for you. 

To conclude…

Adopting and developing a growth mindset is fundamental to personal development.

Being open to learning about new and intriguing things, getting to know people from all over the world and experiencing real life dilemmas is all part of growing.

And what’s amazing is…it can all be learned through solo travel!