5 Reasons to Rediscover Your Own Backyard
When you travel the world, it's easy to forget what’s at your doorstep. Here are five reasons you should never overlook what your home court has to offer. You might be surprised at what you discover...
1. Your own backyard gives you perspective
Whether you decide home is better or worse than where you’ve travelled, it is invaluable to have an understanding of the difference between two places, their good and bad points. Through perspective you understand more about different ways of life in the world, and about yourself. It provides you with a true appreciation of where you come from.
2. Differences between home and away act as motivation for your next adventure
Travellers love to compare home to the places they're visiting. There’s nothing like the contrast of home and a different place to make you value the experiences you had while you were away. Maybe you can't find something at home that you've enjoyed overseas. This feeling acts as a motivation to continue experiencing new places and new journeys.
It's so easy to get caught up in the excitement of heading back overseas, but while you're at home, make sure to slow down and reflect on what you will achieve while you're away. Time at home helps you understand what you like, could do better, and most importantly it motivates you to move forward on to the next adventure. Without this contrast you cannot appreciate the good fortune of doing what you love.
3. Look harder - there’s no way you’ve done everything cool your home has to offer.
As Rafiki said, “look harder”. Life is about growing as an individual through experiences: good and bad. You might feel like you’ve surfed the same break, hiked the same routes or frequented the same bars in your home town, but there’s always something you don’t know about that will surprise you and reinvigorate your appreciation of your roots.
I would never have thought there was anything fun to do in the mountains in Australia, but Thredbo was way better than I expected. I made new friends and actually skied in Australia, and we had such a good road trip driving north through the Victorian and New South Wales high country.
4. Being at home forces you to learn more about yourself
Being home around your family re-educates you about your life. It makes you revisit your upbringing, your roots, the decisions your parents made when they were younger and the life they built. It helps you to recognise what you want throughout your life, and also what you might not want. Being home forces you to re-address issues you might have escaped by heading overseas. It forces you to accept and move on from the things you cannot change and work on the things you can.
5. Being at home makes things easy before they get harder.
We all know the stress in travelling to new and foreign places - dealing with language barriers, transport systems, getting sick, lost, dealing with logistics and trip planning, the inevitable setbacks that arise, and mostly just pushing your body to its limits mentally and physically. It's a challenge, and that’s why we do it. But it’s not always good to over-do it. Being at home allows you to recharge your batteries before you jet off again.
Written by Annaliese FitzGerald. Photos also by Annaliese.
Annaliese is a THISWORLDEXISTS Adventure Ambassador. See more of her adventures on Instagram: @annaliese_fitzgerald or @THISWORLDEXISTS
