What travel taught me about ‘Mental Health’ –

I remember thinking one day, with a quiet smile, ‘I have done well’.

Not just in the obvious ways — the meaningful relationships, the career milestones, the goals I checked off, the things I managed to achieve in my 30s that many people don’t even put on their list.

But also the emotional wins: building resilience, developing emotional intelligence, learning to navigate people and situations with more clarity, and growing into someone I could finally be proud of.

It felt good — that rare moment where life lines up and you think, ‘Yes, I really built this’.

But there is another version to the story — one no one expects and may be not care about initially.

So, that pride and progress is great but it can also come packaged with burnout. And that’s the strange thing about burnout: it always shows up unannounced.

Sometimes it’s loud — a meltdown between meetings, a snap at someone who didn’t deserve it, a sudden urge to drop everything and book the next flight out.

But sometimes burnout is quiet.

It’s waking up tired.

It’s losing the ability to care about things you once loved.

It’s the slow erosion of color from everyday life, like an overwashed photograph.

One would think travel would be the antidote — movement, novelty, and freedom. But the truth is: wherever you go, your mind checks in with you too.

Travel Doesn’t Cure Burnout — But it reveals it.

Like a trip where everything is perfect but still something is missing — The destination was perfect. The weather was perfect. The photos looked perfect. But I wasn’t.

I remember once sitting on a cliffside in a place people would cross oceans to see and feeling absolutely nothing. No awe, no joy, not even sadness. Just a kind of internal blankness like someone had unplugged me.

Travel didn’t make it worse; it just removed the noise I used to hide behind.

Burnout has many origin stories. Like some of mine came from:

-Watching my parents work themselves into exhaustion, believing rest was a luxury.

– Corporate nonsense where I smiled through comments that deserved better responses.

– Life misadventures that made vulnerability feel risky.

– Grief that arrived without permission and stayed longer than any guest should.

And the quiet understanding that even a beautiful life can still be heavy to carry.

Burnout isn’t always about work. Often it comes from emotional overload too –

Over giving , responsibilities, or simply living life at a speed, constantly and always.

The Signs we ignore – maybe you have too:

– The constant “I’m fine,” even when I wasn’t.

– Saying yes when body and intuition says no.

– Feeling guilty for resting.

– Feeling detached from things I love — travel included.

– That tiny internal voice whispering, ‘Just keep going, this is normal.’

Burnout doesn’t disappear overnight — I’m still learning — but these things nudged me back:

1. Small Rest, Not Grand Escapes

You don’t need a mountaintop retreat. Sometimes you just need a quiet morning, a slower afternoon.

2. Honest Conversations

With friends, with yourself, with people who could hold space without trying to fix you.

3. Reclaiming Joy in Tiny Moments

A kind barista. A funny date story. A sunset that asked nothing in return.

4. Permission to Not Be Productive

This one makes me feel very guilty. But then, i know by now that healing cannot thrive in hustle.

5. Remembering Burnout is Not a Personal Failure

It’s not a weakness. It’s a sign you’ve been human in a world that constantly demands more.

Why am i sharing this:

We read travel blogs to escape, imagine, and feel inspired. But real life travels with us — grief, responsibility, pressure, love, heartbreak, all tucked into the same suitcase as our souvenirs.

So this story is for anyone who has felt tired in a place they expected to feel alive.

It’s a reminder that burnout doesn’t make you less adventurous, less capable, or less passionate. It just means you’ve been carrying a heavy story for a long time — and maybe now, it’s time to put it down for a while.

So, wherever you are right now, on a plane, in your office, or at home in bed, I hope you give yourself permission to rest.

You don’t have to earn rest, you already deserve it. 🙂