In this digital age, it’s difficult for people not to compare their own lives to the lives of others displayed online in bold detail. A common thread among the many users of social media is that they’re in search of meaning in this new and confusing world of ours.
For many, this translates to showing off an expensive haircut or the latest smartphone. We crave the things we are constantly being sold by the ads and influencers we follow.
The answer to finding meaning in our lives, however, is a little bit past that though for many of us.
It can be difficult, but very rewarding to ignore society’s gravitation toward spending whatever you can afford on material items and to instead take your hard-earned cash and put it toward exploring and discovering new life experiences.
Especially when you see all your favorite influencers everywhere with all the coolest and newest gear all the time.
Who doesn’t want all the cool stuff they have?
However, if you do a bit of research you may just find that most of our favorite influencers are not only given all these shiny new toys, but paid very well to sell them to you.
But, at the same time, they are paying for their trips all around the world by themselves.
Why? Well, the simple answer is the objects don’t bring them the happiness that the trips and experiences do. They just have them to advertise to you to pay for the great lifestyles they live.
They are paid advertisers trying to get you to buy all the latest goods so they can go out and play and have fun.
Why not skip the middle step and just have fun adventures like them instead? If they didn’t have to pay the bills for all their amazing trips and adventures, we can assure you they wouldn’t care at all what phone you used or what brand of yoga pants you wear.
Awaken Travels challenges you to consider:
Why you should spend your money on life experiences, not things.
The following is a brief overview of three points to consider when choosing to build a library of life experiences.
1. When you choose to spend money on experiences, you are paying a fixed price on an investment of priceless value.
The investment, in this case, is in memories, stories, and impressive world experience that is relevant to your own personal, and perhaps professional, life.
There is no risk of your memories malfunctioning in the way that the latest tech gadget could, and there is no risk of your stories going out of style. You’ll certainly have a whole camera roll of memories to scroll through.
The world experience you can obtain from taking a daring step outside of your typical routine lasts a lifetime, and won’t ever become last year’s model to throw in a drawer and forget about.
2. A financial investment in adventure and new experiences translates into a learning opportunity.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson to learn in the midst of traveling is finding new strengths within yourself.
There’s no experience within the realms of an ordinary routine that could be comparable to overcoming a language barrier, or learning on the fly how to use public transportation in a foreign land.
New experiences, especially those abroad, have the potential to give a boost of confidence.
This confidence boost simply can’t come from buying the newest phone or latest sneaker drops. Sure, you will feel cool for a week, but it doesn’t teach you anything or help you to grow at all.
Overcoming cultural barriers helps people gain an indescribable sense of self-respect as well as respect for other people and cultures.
This is invaluable.
3. Your perspectives change.
Not only does this new experience allow a person to observe new customs and ideas, but also your perspective of an experience will change over time.
When exploring new parts of the world, of course, new stories will come back with you in the same way souvenirs get tucked into your carry-on.
The difference between the stories and the souvenirs, however, is that a story may have one meaning immediately after its occurrence, and then slowly shift in meaning over the course of time as your overall life experiences grow and change.
What once seemed to be a simple confusion, or odd interaction may come to make obvious sense later in life as new adventures and experiences put it all into perspective for you.
A once trivial part of a journey may one day become a point of frequent reflection.
Your stories and experiences after an adventure will continually live a life of their own within the confines of your identity.
You may be surprised at what types of experiences have the potential to stick with you forever, and which pieces of a trip may pop into your head with a poignant impact even decades later.
Ready to invest in an adventure?
We’re in the same boat; constantly exposed to endless marketing about new products, toys, and goods that promise to make us happier. Sure, a new phone is awesome but soon it just becomes the phone we use everyday and quickly loses its shine. The honeymoon glee of getting a new phone pales in comparison to spending a week in an overwater bungalow or taking a winery tour of Europe.
If you’re looking to invest in adventure, get in touch with us and let’s get planning!