What do you plan on doing with all the money you got? You’re probably saving to buy yourself your dream car, or a big house, or that expensive necklace, but none of it will give you that true joy, the utter fulfillment that you seek. Here’s what will: according to a recent scientific discovery, it’s rather your journeys and experiences that will give you lasting happiness, and not your material junk.
So cheer up folks! We’ve been telling our parents these reasons for years, and now there’s finally some science to back us up!
1. Experiences > Material things
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Your newest iPhone and XBox won’t give you as much happiness as would traveling to new places, meeting new people, engaging in new adventures, and trying new cuisines. Besides, “we’re the sum total of our experiences”, aren’t we?
2. If happiness = traveling, then Money CAN buy happiness!
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The excitement associated with finally buying things you’ve been dreaming of will fade, but the memories of that trip you took with your family years ago will always make you smile no matter how old you grow.
3. You are where you’ve been, and not what you bought
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Believe it or not, traveling defines you. The experiences you indulge in tend to become your identities. People won’t remember you for that fancy car you bought, but for all the places you took off with it!
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4. Your adventures will make great travel stories
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What kind of stories would you entertain your grand-children with? The fancy lifestyle you had when young won’t excite them much. Narrate to them dramatic tales of the adventures you had, the experiences you got, the risks you took, the fears you had, the discoveries you made, the lessons you learnt along the way…..and they’ll be your fans forever!
5. Traveling enhances our social relationships
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You won’t make many friends and contacts sitting at home. Besides, people you meet and relationships you build outside your hometown circle of friends will be rather everlasting, enriching, & give you a fresher perspective on life, than your virtual opponents on high-tech video games ever will.
6. Facebook Check-in from a posh cafe, or from the Great Wall of China? You choose.
You can’t deny this one. Travel photos and check-ins will prove to be a better weapon for showing off and for making your friends smoke with jealousy, than posting pictures of you in that pretty red dress from Gucci.
7. Need a break from your hectic work schedule? What better than to take a trip!
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Going clubbing with your gang will only make you forget about your angry boss or your annoying ex for the day. Nothing relieves stress as much as traveling. A change of landscapes, weather, and people, can definitely charge up your mind and replenish your soul.
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8. Traveling invokes inner wisdom & makes you smarter!
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“Don’t tell me how educated you are. Tell me how much you have traveled”. Trust me, Wikipedia won’t tell you as much (or as accurately) about a destination, as your holiday there would. Seeing new cultures and meeting new people will teach you things you never knew about the world.
9. Traveling helps us discover who we really are
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You never really know what you’re capable of and what skills you possess, until you venture out, experience new situations, & face challenges. Successfully trekking miles to a mountaintop, getting stranded in a foreign area & figuring out the way- these will actually strengthen your self-confidence and give you skills to deal with life better, as opposed to your material belongings.
10. Things perish, but memories stay….forever
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The materialistic, short-lived things you buy will leave you once they have served their purpose. The memories you made will accompany you to your grave.
So the next time you feel like showing off by buying something expensive, make sure it’s a plane ticket!
Share this with all your friends who have ever ditched your travel plans for monetary issues. And if you can think of any more reasons to spend your money on traveling rather than things, let all know by putting them in the comments below!
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Kanika has 4 years of experience in writing blogs and marketing content for travel. And when she’s not writing, she’s either exploring new terrains in a different corner of the world, or out in the city freezing urban scenarios in her camera.
