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100+ life journey quotes to inspire you.

Life is a journey. How often have you heard that?

As we find our road through life, we all need inspiration and guidance. And this is never so true as when we are travelling, especially as solo travellers. 

This can come from many sources: friends, family, self-help books. But sometimes, a simple quote about life’s journey can provide inspiration or make us view our path through a different lens. 

Drawing on the writings of authors and poets, scholars and spiritual leaders here are my favourite life journey quotes. Is your favourite there? 

Are you looking for a short and sharp travel caption to add to your images or social media feed? If so, check out these dreamy travel captions

IN THIS ARTICLE

My Top 10 Life Journey Quotes

There are many quotes about life as a journey out there and picking a list of favourites is a tough call. From Maja Angelou to Mark Twain, here are those that continue to inspire me.

1. Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away. – Maya Angelou

2. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.   – Mark Twain

3. Remember where you have been and know where you are going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way. – Nikita Koloff

4. We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.  – Paulo Coelho

You are far from the end of your journey. The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart. See how you love. Buddha

6. You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. – C.S. Lewis

7. When setting out on a journey do not seek advice from someone who never left home. – Rumi

One of the greatest journeys in life is overcoming insecurity and learning to truly not give a shit.  J. A. Konrath

9. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant. – Robert Louis Stevenson 

10. Sometimes life takes you on a journey that changes everything you thought you wanted. – Melaina Rayne

Life Journey Quotes: First Steps

Every journey begins with a single step. Taking that first step is often the hardest part of any endeavour, whether that’s booking your first trip alone , quitting your job or moving overseas.

Be inspired to take the plunge with these inspirational life journey quotes.

11. Big things have small beginnings. – Prometheus 

12. The only impossible journey is the one you never begin . – Tony Robbins

13. A little step may be the beginning of a great journey. – Unknown

14. If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all. – Dan Rather

15. Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone’s hand is the beginning of a journey. – Vera Nazarian

Beginning are usually scary and ending are usually sad, but it’s everything in between that makes it all worth living. Bob Marley

The Next Steps: Quotes on the Journey of Life

But that first step is just that; the first step on the road of life. Life – and travel – can present a series of obstacles to overcome.

17. Life’s journey is a collection of stories. Make yours a bestseller. – The Flashpacker ( Bridget Coleman )

18. One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time. – John Wanamaker

19 . … a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. – John Steinbeck

20. To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping. – Chinese Proverb 

21. Life is a journey. When we stop, things don’t go right. – Pope Francis

22. The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. – Alan Watts

23. Life is a journey, travel it well. – Unknown

The key to realising a dream is to focus not on success but significance, and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.  Oprah Winfrey 

25. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. – Helen Keller

26. No journey is too great, when one finds what one seeks. – Friedrich Nietzsche

27. Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete.  – Chanda Kochhar

28. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike . – John Steinbeck

29. No journey is too great, when one finds what one seeks. – Friedrich Nietzsche

30. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. – John Steinbeck

31. I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. –  Jimmy Dean

32. Your journey will be much lighter and easier if you don’t carry your past with you! – Tamara Kulish

33. May the stars guide you on your journey, and your heart always lead you home. – Melaina Rayne

Life is a Journey Quotes to Inspire Solo Travellers

Any seasoned solo traveller knows that travelling alone has the power to change your life . But sometimes it can be difficult to find the words to describe your experiences. 

To empower you to travel alone , here is the pick of the best life journey quotes that can be applied to solo travel.

34. It’s your road, and yours alone, others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. – Rumi

35. No one can decide the road that inspires us to kick-start a journey better than the one embarking on the path. We may find others joining our journey, but we have to take the first step alone to reach our destination.  – Dr Prem Jagyasi

36. Don’t be scared to walk alone. Don’t be scared to like it. – John Mayer

37. Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone. – Buddha

There are some places in life where you can only go alone. Embrace the beauty of your solo journey. Mandy Hale

39. No one you have been and no place you have gone ever leaves you. The new parts of you simply jump in the car and go along for the rest of the ride. The success of your journey and your destination all depend on who’s driving. – Bruce Springsteen

40. The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. – Henry David Thoreau

41. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. – Neale Donald Walsh

42. If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone. – Maxwell Maltz

I have traveled many roads in my life. Some were imbued with pain and I needed to avert my gaze. Others were so beautiful that I would have remained there forever. But always, at some point in these routes, I reached a place where I encountered myself. Pablo Holmberg

44. The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. – Albert Einstein

45. Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s okay. You’re here to live your life, not to make everyone understand.  – Banksy

Are you looking for more quotes to inspire you to travel alone? If so, check out these inspirational solo travel quotes

Making Friends on the Journey of Life

Of course, none of us needs to be alone. Other people can play a huge part in our life journey.

46 . A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles . – Tim Cahill

47. Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life. – Pythagoras

48. In this journey of life, you will meet people who will make you feel alive! – Avijeet Das

49. On a hard jungle journey, nothing is so important as having a team you can trust. – Tahir Shah

50. Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. – Izaak Walton

The main thing that you have to remember on this journey is, just be nice to everyone and always smile. Ed Sheeran

52. Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind. – Henri Frederic Amiel

53. We never know the journey another person has walked, so be kind to everyone. – Lynette Mather

Having Faith in Yourself: Best Life Journey Quotes

Life throws obstacles at us, and it can be difficult to believe in yourself and in your ability to deal with these challenges. Even with those important first steps, you sometimes have to throw caution to the wind. 

54. Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be…Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you’ll live as you’ve never lived before. – Erich Fromm

I believe that life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel, but we are well equipped for it if only we tap into our talents and gifts and allow them to blossom.  Les Brown

56. Trust yourself, trust the road, trust the weather, and trust your destination! This quarto-trust can create a miraculously successful journey!  – Mehmet Murat Īldan

57. Have faith in your journey. Everything had to happen exactly as it did to get you where you’re going next! – Mandy Hale

58. Things are only impossible until they’re not. – Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek ( the Star Trek universe can teach us much about travel )

Finding Your Path on Life’s Journey

As profound as it may seem, sometimes getting lost is the first step to finding our way on the journey of life, and there is not necessarily one right path. The correct path is the one that is right for you. 

59. In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself astray in a dark wood where the straight road had been lost sight of.  – Dante Alighieri

60. Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost. – Erol Ozan

You have to get lost before you can be found. Jeff Rasley

62. Life is a journey that has a lot of different paths, but any path you choose use it as your destiny. – Ryan Leonard 

63. This thing we call life is not a destination with an end but a path down which we continue to journey as long as we can breathe. Life is to be lived not squandered or to give away waiting for the end to close upon us.  – Byron Pulsifer

64. The path isn’t a straight line; it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths . – Barry H. Gillespie

65. Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lessons Learnt Through the Life Journey

Some of the best life journey quotes relate to the lessons you learn along this journey. Many of these lessons may not be obvious at the time, especially in tough times, but ultimately they help shape who we are.

66. A journey taken in vain is not a wasted journey if you have learnt something. – Anthony T. Hincks

67. All journeys have secret destinations of which traveler is unaware. – Martin Buber

68. Always remember life is a learning journey. Keep filling your mind with all that is worthy. – Catherine Pulsifer

69. One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. – Henry Miller

Learn to trust the journey, even when you do not understand it.  Lolly Daskal 

71. We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world. – Marcel Proust

72. Travel far enough, you meet yourself. – David Mitchell

73. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse. – Anthon St. Maarten 

74. What you learn in tough times can be used in many ways to bless your personal life journey.  – Scott Gordon

75. Sometimes in your life you will go on a journey. It will be the longest journey you have ever taken. It is the journey to find yourself. – Katharine Sharp

Enjoy the Journey Quotes

Ultimately, what is it all for unless you enjoy the journey?

As travellers, we are often guilty of fixating on the destination, instead of learning to enjoy the journey, and celebrating the triumphs instead of stressing about the difficulties.

76. Roads were made for journeys not destinations. – Confucius

77. Life Is What Happens When You’re Busy Making Other Plans . – John Lennon

78. The journey is the reward. – Tao Expression

79. In the tapestry of life, every thread matters. Weave a journey worth treasuring. – The Flashpacker (Bridget Coleman)

80. Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever. – Peter Hagerty

81. It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.  – Ernest Hemingway

82. Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it. – Greg Anderson

83. Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination . – Drake

84. Accomplishments will prove to be a journey, not a destination. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

85. And at the end of the day, there is nothing but the journey. Because destination is pure illusion. – Rich Roll

86. Life is a journey, not a destination. Learn to enjoy the ride. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If ever there was a metaphor to illustrate the importance of the journey over the destination, it is life itself. For everyone who departs from birth is destined for death, so the journey IS life. Savor it! Michele Jennae

88. The journey in between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life takes place. – Barbara De Angelis

89. Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.  – Arthur Ashe

It is not the destination where you end up but the mishaps and memories you create along the way! Penelope Riley

91. Your journey has molded you for your greater good, and it was exactly what it needed to be. Don’t think you’ve lost time. There is no short-cutting to life. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now. And now is right on time. – Asha Tyson

92. Embrace your life journey with gratitude, so that how you travel your path is more important than reaching your ultimate destination. – Rosalene Glickman

93. Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved. Winnie the Pooh

94. Let your joy be in your journey – not in some distant goal. – Tim Cook

95. Live now; make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again. – Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek

96. Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Andre Gide

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride! Hunter S. Thompson

98. Every day is a journey filled with twists and turns. Every day, if you smile, you will feel alive, my son. – Santosh Kalwar

99. Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.  – Fitzhugh Mullan

100. I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be . – Douglas Adams

101. We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. – T.S. Eliot

102. Life is an opportunity, seize the day, live each day to the fullest. Life is not a project, but a journey to be enjoyed. – Catherine Pulsifer

103. I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. – Douglas Adams

104. Time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. – Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek

Life Journey Quotes: Final Thoughts

Life for me, like travel, is all about the journey. The shape of that journey is up to the individual.

I hope that these life journey quotes help inspire you to live your best life. That’s all that any of us can aim for.  

Enjoy the journey.

Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind. Anthony Bourdain

About Bridget

Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.

Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.

To get in touch, email her at [email protected] or follow her on social media.

Three Myths and Four Truths About How to Get Happier

The most important thing to realize is that happiness is not a destination but a direction: How you travel through life is what counts.

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I have heard this statement from thousands of people in my career of teaching and researching happiness. I have said it myself many times; you probably have too. As the philosopher and theologian Saint Augustine declared in 426 C.E., feeling no need to offer proof, “There is no one who does not wish to be happy.”

But what do we actually mean when we say we just want to be happy? Usually, that we want to achieve and keep certain feelings—of joy or simple cheerfulness—but that some obstacle prevents this. “I just want to be happy” is almost always followed by naming a source of unhappiness, such as money problems, relationship problems, health problems—or real tragedies. (As I write these words, the Maui wildfires have killed dozens, displaced thousands, and caused suffering that has affected us all.) From small problems to major catastrophes, life seems to conspire to make our wished-for happiness fleeting at best, inaccessible at worst. What a cruel paradox: We are wired to desire happiness yet seemingly doomed to a life of struggle that makes it unattainable.

But what if this paradox was based on a misunderstanding of happiness itself? In fact, much of the most common and popular wisdom about happiness relies on a series of myths. As Oprah Winfrey and I are working together to show in our new book, Build the Life You Want , anyone can make true progress in building a better life for themselves and others if they can get past these myths, even amid a life that contains no small amount of suffering.

Myth 1: Happiness is a feeling. We all know what happiness feels like: It involves clear emotions such as joy, love, and interest—much as unhappiness involves emotions such as fear, sadness, disgust, and anger. But calling happiness itself—or unhappiness—a “feeling” is a mistake. That is like asserting that your job and your money are the same thing. You need your job to pay you, and how much you earn may be evidence of your professional effectiveness. But to reduce your work to money would be inaccurate and depressing.

In a similar way, your emotional states both derive from and help deliver well-being, but they’re not identical to that well-being. Happiness is more than a series of neurological signals evolved to help keep you alive, safe, and able to reproduce. I prefer to think of it as a combination of three much less ephemeral components: enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning.

Arthur C. Brooks: How to get the most happiness from your social life

Enjoyment starts with simple pleasure and then adds the company of other people, which calls on our higher consciousness by requiring the executive capacity of our brain to exercise social skills. So a way to think of enjoyment, then, is: pleasure plus the company of others plus memory. Enjoyment raises happiness, as pleasure alone does not. That’s one reason, for example, ads for food and drink usually show people together, sharing a meaningful time in their lives, instead of consuming alone. The advertisers want to associate the product with long-term enjoyment (and thus happiness), not just momentary pleasure.

Satisfaction is the joy you get from accomplishing something you’ve worked for. It’s that feeling you experience when you get an A in school after studying hard; it’s the glow from a well-earned promotion at work. Satisfied is how you feel when you do something difficult, even painful, that meets what you see as your life’s purpose.

Psychologists have defined meaning as a combination of coherence (things happen for a reason), purpose (direction in life), and significance (your life matters). We can make do without enjoyment for a while, and even with little satisfaction. But if we lack meaning—which takes a lot of effort and sacrifice to find—we are utterly lost. Without it, we can’t navigate life’s inevitable challenges and crises. When we do have a sense of meaning, we can face life with hope and inner peace.

Myth 2: Your problems are the problem. You might have noticed in the preceding definition of happiness something that seems strange, possibly unsettling: All three of happiness’s elements call for some degree of effort, discomfort, or suffering, even for some unhappiness.

Helen Lewis: Harry and Meghan are playing a whole different game

Enjoyment demands the investment of time and effort. It means forgoing easy, effortless thrills. It can mean saying no to cravings and temptations. It can require taming the appetite for pleasure and living according to the rules of personal conduct on which you decide—such as staying faithful to your partner. Satisfaction, too, entails some work and hardship. If you don’t suffer for something, at least a little, it’s unlikely to satisfy you much.

The common strategy of trying to eliminate problems from life to get happier is futile and mistaken. We must instead look for the “why” of life to make our problems an opportunity for learning and growth. And unsurprisingly, that last component of meaning involves the most suffering of all. “The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life,” the psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote in his 1946 book, Man’s Search for Meaning .

Myth 3: Your goal is happiness. In truth, you can’t be happy. You can, however, be happier .

Searching for happiness is like questing for El Dorado, the fabled South American city of gold. When we look for happiness, we might get glimpses of what it feels like, but it doesn’t last. Some people talk about happiness as if they possess it, but no one does. And all too often, the very people society thinks should be completely happy—the rich, the beautiful, the famous, the powerful—wind up in the news for their bankruptcies, personal scandals, and family troubles.

Read: Queen Sugar is the most luxurious show on earth

If the secret to pure happiness existed, we all would have found it by now. If happiness were simply a commodity in that way, it would be big business, sold on the internet, taught in schools, and provided by the government. But it’s not. The one thing every human has ever wanted since Homo sapiens first appeared about 300,000 years ago in Africa has remained elusive. We’ve figured out how to make fire, the wheel, the lunar lander, and TikTok videos, but despite all that human ingenuity, we have mastered neither the art nor the science of getting and keeping the one thing we really want. Some people manage to have more happiness than others, but no one can maintain it consistently.

That’s because happiness is not a destination but a direction . We won’t reach a place of complete happiness in this life. But wherever we are in our journey of life, and however satisfied or dissatisfied we naturally tend to be, we all can be happier with self-knowledge, good habits, and a commitment to improve.

Want to hear more from Arthur C. Brooks? Join him and a selection of today’s best writers and boldest voices at The Atlantic Festival on September 28 and 29. Get your pass here .

I f the message that happiness requires effort, involves unhappiness, and is largely unattainable strikes you as bad news, it shouldn’t. It should set you free. What it tells you is that your feelings can’t dictate your well-being, that your problems can’t stop you from getting happier, and that you can finally leave off looking for a lost city of gold that doesn’t exist. Here are four ways to apply this information to your life.

Truth 1: Check whether you’re getting your happiness nourishment. If you go to a nutritionist because you feel that your diet needs improvement, they’re bound to analyze your macronutrient profile—the amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fat you eat—to see where it’s out of balance and make adjustments. Enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning are the macronutrients in your happiness diet. So this is a good place to start as you assess your happiness and how it could be higher.

Ask yourself whether you’re settling for mere pleasure or doing the work you need for real enjoyment. Are you making the sacrifices necessary to accomplish satisfying things? Do you have a secure sense of your life’s coherence, purpose, and significance? The answers you come up with for these questions can help you see where you should apply more effort, and where you can make the most progress toward getting happier.

Rebecca Rashid and Arthur C. Brooks: How to know that you know nothing

Truth 2: Stop trying to eradicate your unhappiness. The Woodstock hippie motto was “If it feels good, do it!” This is plenty-bad advice—not least because it suggests settling for pleasure over enjoyment. But just as bad is a more contemporary moral imperative: “If it feels bad, make it stop.” A major reason people fail to get happier is that they spend so much of their time and energy trying to eradicate unhappiness from their life.

You need negative emotions and experiences to achieve enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning in your life. We’re talking about not medical issues, such as anxiety and depression, but the ordinary suffering that befalls everyone at one time or another. You don’t need to seek out this suffering; it will find you. The key is not to fight it—with denial or palliatives—when it does find you but to accept it, learn from it, and grow as a person.

Start each day remembering that every experience you have—positive and negative—is part of being fully alive. If you have been expending a lot of effort trying to avoid normal conflict, shielding yourself from rejection and disappointment and running away from sadness and fear, turn around and say, “Bring it on.” That will take some practice, but in time, you will be amazed at how much this can improve your quality of life.

Truth 3: Remember the progress principle. One of the great paradoxes of happiness is that what brings joy is not attaining a desired goal but making progress toward it. Some aims—chasing money, power, or fame—are misguided and harmful, but taking steps toward personal growth, skill acquisition, and connection with others is strongly correlated with enhanced well-being.

This principle of progress was well understood at America’s founding. The Declaration of Independence did not guarantee happiness—a utopian promise beyond anyone’s capacity to realize. Rather, our “unalienable right” was the pursuit of happiness. Because happiness is a direction and not a destination, its pursuit makes that utopian promise as near self-fulfilling as we can hope for.

Arthur C. Brooks: The path to happiness is easy but narrow

How to pursue happiness, then? Not by valuing happiness highly—that is too vague, and overvaluing happiness as a goal can even lead away from well-being, just as saying, “I want more money” not only won’t make you richer but will make you feel more acutely that you don’t have enough. Instead, the right approach is to make noticeable progress in the habits that add up to making you happier.

Truth 4: Adopt the four happiness habits. It is easy to imagine that the habits that bring happiness to you are very personal and unique. After all, we are all different in our tastes. But looking at the research, we can identify some broad patterns in the consistent practices of the happiest people. They develop and abide by a faith or philosophy of life; they maintain a strong connection to family; they stay close to friends; and they strive to serve others through their work. Understanding exactly what these things mean and how they are made manifest in your life requires reflection and discernment. However, the broad categories of these habits are common to all.

P erhaps these myths and the better-informed truths all make perfect sense to you. Even so, they can be devilishly hard to remember and practice as you go about your complicated life. So here is one more item, designed to cement the rest into your thinking and daily routines.

Instructors sometimes use a technique known as “ plastic-platypus learning ” to teach people how to communicate newly gained knowledge by explaining it to an inanimate object—such as a plastic platypus. The research on this technique shows that if you can give a coherent account of recently acquired information, you will absorb and remember it better. A plastic platypus works just fine, but even better is a real person—a lot of research indicates that teaching a subject is one of the most reliable ways to learn it deeply yourself.

You might ask how you can teach someone else to get happier when you still have so far to go yourself. That is precisely when and why you are the most effective teacher. The best happiness instructors are those who have had to work to gain the knowledge they offer, not the lucky ones who fall out of bed most days in a great mood. The lucky few are like the fitness influencers on Instagram who have superior genetics, can eat whatever they want, and have no idea what the challenges are for the rest of us.

Don’t hide your own struggles; use them to help others understand that they’re not alone and that getting happier is possible. Your effort and pain give you credibility; your progress makes you an inspiration. And sharing the experience with others adds to that progress, making it a truly happy win-win.

​When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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Blog , Commentary

Not traveling and seven life lessons we’ve learned.

Are there really lessons you can learn from not traveling? The answer is a resounding “Absolutely!” Of course, when you’re not out there traveling the world, life seems like an endless series of monotony and routines. But it’s not all bad, all the time, as I’ve learned after looking back on the moments when we’ve stayed put. We have learned some pretty solid life lessons from not traveling. And that’s what I’m going to share with you right now.

This article was originally created on April 22, 2016, and updated on January 15, 2018.

My Perceived Problem

The lessons came after I encountered a perceived “problem” that soon turned into an opportunity. When we  returned home from living abroad , an old mistake came to the forefront. In a previous life, I was a very different person and led a reckless life. This led to an arrest for a DUI, which I thought was settled back then. I even completed community service and have a clean record, but unfortunately, the DMV side of the case was never resolved. It took some time, which I first saw as a burden.

The Opportunity

Not having a license meant I’d be mostly confined to my home, depending on rides from loved ones because we didn’t have a lot of money to support a steady Uber  habit. I was crushed, initially. However, I eventually figured out that this was an opportunity, because of these important life lessons from not traveling, at least in the way we were used to getting around.

The Life Lessons

Seek out the challenge.

Beyond not having a license, I was actually running away from my insecurities of being back in the US . I was also avoiding the wonderful world that surrounded me. Instead of feeling stuck, should’ve embraced the challenge to explore our new home in North Carolina and truly embrace local travel and day trips. I finally realized the first lesson was nothing more than seeking out the challenge of a life without travel.

Love Where You Are

I had a really hard time appreciating where I was in the world, but after much kicking and screaming, I got over myself. I finally understood that it’s okay to love where you are at the present moment. Sure, there are many times when I want to be elsewhere, exploring all the travel destinations that I can. But I have to appreciate and love the place where I am right now ( Durham, NC ). This may be difficult for you at first, but give it a try. From your present place, you’ll find easier access to happiness and the dream life that you’re working to achieve.

You Can Overcome Anything

Our obstacles of returning home and feeling stuck were easy compared to most people, and you might feel the same way about your own issues. Of course, you may not feel that way now, and that’s the hardest part to overcome. Decide that you’re going to embrace the challenge and overcome it. That’s the first step. And the rest? Well, it will feel like history.

Be Grateful

This next part is going to sound crazy. But when a problem presents itself, you first have to be grateful and go at it with a smile. You’re being challenged to lose your cool. This is where you should ignore that urge and say “thank you” to the world for throwing you the hoops that you have to jump through. While you may not notice it at that moment, your gratitude will pay off. Believe me. I’m not perfect, but I treat every situation as one to learn from, and with as much of a smile as I can muster. It works.

Just like I’ve learned from starting a travel blog , patience is crucial or else you’ll lose all hope in very quick fashion. Every day, I see a new instant-success story or an amazing adventure created by someone else. I hate to break it to you but remember this. You’re most likely NOT going to achieve anything overnight. so be patient. You’ll get there in due time.

Take Breaks

Life can seem overwhelming and it’s oh so crucial that you step back and take some time for yourself. I love exploring the outdoors in Durham or a good workout, with nothing but my thoughts (or inspirational book I’m listening to) to deal with. Do you have a method of taking a break that doesn’t involve a newsfeed? Taking a break doesn’t just mean taking a breath and relaxing. It helps us disconnect from that need to achieve and fulfill all of those goals staring at us from the finish line.

Remember that Everyone is Traveling

Even though I’ve described lessons learned from not traveling in the physical sense, I still think that we are all traveling through life. Everyone is traveling through life at their own pace. It can mean physically going somewhere, but also when one uses their own imagination. Travel isn’t a race because we’re not racing anyone. There’s no need to compare what you’ve done to others because your journey is just as special as the person next to you.

Our Thoughts and Yours, Too

I’ve learned (and continue to learn) some valuable life lessons from not traveling. Face your situation with gratitude and you’ll stand one step closer to overcoming whatever is put in front of you. For me, deciding that this was an opportunity was just important as the rest of these important life lessons.

What do you think about our lessons from not traveling? We’d love to read your thoughts in the comments section below!

Carl Hedinger

I'm a writer and recovering American expat who shares my family's travels through life. You can follow our adventures here and on our sister site NCTripping.com.

15 thoughts on “ Not Traveling and Seven Life Lessons We’ve Learned ”

These are great lessons! I’ve been working on Love Where You Are for a while now. I’m originally from the Virgin Islands and have lived in New York City and Southern California, so living in Albany, NY was an adjustment. I found that travel blogging about the Northeast really helped me appreciate the region, and now I’m working on new photography challenges. But I think your most important lessons, and the ones that I struggle with, are to be patient and take breaks. A good life is all about balance, right?

Hi Sandra, thank you so much for your kind and honest response. Patience and taking breaks are huge challenges for me as well. I hope you are able to apply them to your new challenges and look forward to seeing more of your work in the coming days. Thanks again and all the best to your pursuits. -Carl

What an insightful and transparent post. I share your observation that gratitude is an important key to contentment and joy in life; I believe that there is a Person behind all of my circumstances, pleasant and the “challenging” and being thankful helps me to grow and learn from it all. Thanks for sharing your journey, even when that means you are staying put.

Thank you for your kind words. Gratitude is something I’m working on every day. I’m grateful that you stopped by and left such wonderful thoughts. Best of luck in your journey, whether you go far or stay put for any period of time. Best, Carl

Hi,Carl~ I miss you. You and Christina look so happy in the picture that I can feel like you are here.7 lessons from no travelling could be very useful when I travel.Thanks a lot.I promised Patric and James to go hiking mt Jokye in Suncheon May the 5th,eating steamed barley(보리밥)visiting a very old small temple that was built 1600 years ago. you and I should have gone hiking there when you were here. I ask for understanding on my comment to all commenters as I am not a advaced english student.I will always keep my fingers crossed for everybody.

Very good to hear from you again! I miss you too, my friend. Hopefully you get to go for that hike on Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) and if so, send me a photo or two! Thanks again and I hope to stay in touch.

What an honest and insightful post. Hard to believe that a 10 year mistake has such consequences on your current life – sorry that this has happened to you, though glad you seem to be finding the light! I’ll be honest, I am looking forward to traveling locally at home in the US. After so much constant travel through Asia, exploring your homebase is a blessing and a good way to reconnect with a place you were away from for so long!

Thank you for the kind comment, Katie. Things have cleared up now but yeah, it’s been rough living here without that easy public transport system like Korea had! Anyway, I see you wrote some nice stuff about Asheville, which is high on our recent radar of places to visit. Can’t wait to check that out and in the mean time, I hope to stay in touch! Take care and all the best to you.

Yeah! We shall meet up once I return to the southern USA! Perhaps some hiking and beer drinking in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

I’ve really taken the traveling local thing to heart now that my budget has changed, and it’s so clear to me how easy it is to see new things right in my own backyard. Still, I can’t wait to get back on the road for a longer trip as soon as possible.

You live in an awesome part of the country though, you have to admit:)

However, I agree with you. It’s so easy to find some greatness right outside. We just have to give ourselves a chance (and time) to find it. It doesn’t take too much, I say. Thanks for stopping by, Jeri!

I know it must be a very difficult season for you, but I appreciate your honesty and transparency; it is a rare quality and practice anymore. I do a fair amount of traveling; I’ve had to learn to embrace it as an opportunity to grow and see it as an adventure where my natural personality would be very happy at home, sitting at and easel from morning ’til night with a paintbrush in my hand. With coffee and a bit of food, I could be a very happy camper at my easel for days on end with never even talking to another human being. However, I have come to realize that my art would be much flatter without my broader range of exposure to different people and places.

I think that more people should travel, in general, but not so that they can escape from difficult personal situations. All too often people don’t really comprehend how other people around the world live. Existing (to pay bills) is often a substitute for really living and then we lack compassion for those who have less or who have struggles that we can’t really imagine. I was glad to read your recognition of these things and you gratitude, even in your hard places now. I’m also glad to hear that you have more family support now. “Live alone, die alone” is not a good pathway through the world.

“We, too, have been brought back to the states for a season. First we helped a widowed friend (who’s like the sister I never had) get moved to another state and now we’re helping dear friends (who are really family) in stroke recovery. It’s hard in some ways. We spent 5 months in Sydney last year and even though we didn’t do a great amount of exploration, I really did love it there. “To every thing there is a season…”

There ARE great benefits to local exploration and I’m glad to see that you are making the opportunities to find interesting things to do in your current surroundings. In our own settled period this year, I joined a line dancing exercise group while it was in session. Now that it’s over, I take walks with my camera to shoot local flora and fauna –we are fortunate enough to live in an “Old Florida” environment right now–there are lots of Osprey up in trees and in the sky and there are also lots of tiny, low to the ground wildflowers, so I can stand tall to get good fauna shots and also get to do lots of squats in my photography sessions to get those wildflowers. Our friends also like to enjoy the activities in their small town, so we’ve done weekly Farmer’s Markets, art museums and other local art shows that we probably would never have seen if we hadn’t been here. Staying put for seasons also has its benefits. Enjoy your season, even with its hardships.

I really appreciate your thoughtful and thorough comment here. It seems like you are a true explorer and after reading your stories, it really did lift me up a whole lot! These days have been tough but I’m trying to slowly get back on the path to moving around and traveling, even if locally.

Which part of Florida are you in these days? I haven’t been in years and would love to head back down that way sometime. Going to be in Miami for just a few hours but would love to explore the center and panhandle again!

Travel is not a race Ah! Finally somebody said it. These days, traveling has become some sort of show off badges, that the real meaning of travel has been off. So good to have come across this article 🙂

Hi Deepika, I appreciate your kind words here. Hopefully I don’t stir the pot too much but yeah, I find myself losing the race a lot these days:)

Take care and I hope to hear back from you next time around!

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