Itching to get out this winter? Remember the six stages of the journey of change

(The Discussion) – In June 2022, I embarked on a 10,650 mile six-week motorcycle trip from Tennessee to Alaska and back with little more than my GPS and phone. The journey began as a year-long research trip – and despite the horror stories of delayed and canceled flights, I couldn’t be happier.

Everywhere I went, even in the remote areas of the Yukon and British Columbia, people were traveling. Many of the trailers being towed were brand new, indicating that the owners had recently purchased them. After another winter of worsening epidemics, it seems that people’s desire to disappear is just as intense.

But why do we travel in the first place? What is the appeal of the open road?

As a professor of religion, psychology, and culture, I study experiences at the intersection of all three. And in my research on travel, I’ve been struck by an intractable paradox: many of us want to escape in order to be present. We rush to destinations to slow down; We may care about the environment but we still leave carbon footprints.

In the end, most people hope that they will come back changed. Travel is often viewed as what anthropologists call a “rite of passage”: a structured rite of passage in which individuals separate from their familiar environment, undergo change, and return renewed or “reborn.”

But travelers don’t just care about themselves. “Just Traveling: Leaving God, Home, and Spirituality for the Road. Being able to do this, however, is a privilege that may come at a cost to host communities. Increasingly, both the tourism industry and academics are interested in ethical travel, which minimizes harm to the places and people visitors encounter.

The media bombards tourists with advice and encouragement about where to travel and what to do there. But a transformative, ethical journey, to achieve deeper goals that require a deeper understanding of the “why” and the “how.”

During my book research, I studied travel stories in the scriptures and studied findings from psychologists, sociologists, ethicists, economists, and tourism scholars. I argue that meaningful travel is not a three-step, but a six-step practice based on the best human practices. As adventures twist and turn, these stages can be repeated and overlapped within the same journey.

1. Waiting

When we research and plan, a trip starts long before departure. But waiting is more than just logistics. The Dutch actually call it “voorpret”: literally, the happiness before.

How and what people perceive in any given situation has the power to shape their experience, for better or worse—even when it comes to prejudice. In psychological experiments, for example, children can reduce their bias in favor of their own group when they estimate high cooperation between groups.

But phenomenology, the branch of philosophy that studies human experience and consciousness, emphasizes that anticipation is also “empty”: our consciousness and our expectations of what is to come can be fulfilled or destroyed at some point in the future.

With this in mind, travelers should try to remain open to skepticism and even disappointment.

2. Abandonment

Letting go can stir up deep emotions tied to our early experiences of separation. The attachment patterns that psychologists study in infants, which shape how secure people feel in their relationships, are shaping us as adults. These experiences can influence people’s comfort with exploring new experiences and leaving home, which in turn affects the way they travel.

While some travelers leave with joy, others feel hesitant or guilty before the relief and excitement of departure. Thinking about the stages of travel can help people manage stress.

3. Surrender

Travelers can’t control their trip: a flight is canceled, or a vehicle breaks down; The weather report predicts sunshine, but the rain will last for several days. They must surrender to some degree of the unknown.

Modern Western cultures tend to view “surrender” as something negative – like raising a white flag. But as a therapeutic concept, surrender helps people let go of inhibitions, find a sense of wholeness, and experience it with others. Perfectionists understand that a changed itinerary doesn’t mean a diminished travel experience, and that they let go of the fear of failure. A person with a strong sense of independence thrives on vulnerability when cared for by strangers.

In fact, some psychological theories envision self-subjugation in terms of freedom: letting go of protective barriers and gaining freedom from attempts to control the environment. Adopting that perspective helps travelers cope with the reality that things may not go according to plan.

4. Meeting

Meeting, the fourth chapter of the journey, is an invitation to discover oneself and others anew.

All cultures have unconscious “rules of recognition,” their own ingrained customs and ways of thinking, which make it difficult to establish cross-cultural relationships. Holding conscious and unconscious misperceptions, travelers may view certain people and places as uneducated, dangerous, poor, or sexual, while hosts may view travelers as rich, ignorant, and exploitative.

Breaking out of such stereotypes requires travelers to be aware of behaviors that can add tension to their relationships—knowing topics of conversation to avoid, for example, or following local dress codes.

In many parts of the world, those challenges are reinforced by the legacy of colonialism, which brings people together in concrete ways. Colonial stereotypes still see Westerners as alien, dangerous, and inferior to non-white groups.

Starting to overcome these barriers requires an attitude called cultural humility, which goes deeper than “cultural competence”—simply knowing about another culture. Traditional politeness guides such as “I don’t know,” “Please help me understand,” or “How should I…?” It helps them ask questions like:

5. Care

Caring involves overcoming “special responsibility”: when travelers do not recognize their own rights and take responsibility for them, or ignore the special opportunities of others.

Travel becomes irresponsible when tourists ignore the injustice and injustice they see, or the way their travel contributes to the worsening climate crisis. Morally, “compassion” is not enough; Travelers should pursue partnership as an act of “caring.” That might mean hiring local guides, eating at family-run restaurants, and being mindful of resources like food and water.

6. Return

Trips come to an end, and returning home can be a confusing experience.

Returning can cause reverse culture shock if travelers struggle to adjust. But that shock can be lessened when travelers share their experiences with others, connect with the places they’ve visited, increase their knowledge of the place and its culture, envision a return trip, or engage with the cause of their trip.

I believe that reflecting on these six steps can invite the kind of thinking necessary for a transformative, ethical journey. And in the wake of the pandemic, the need for thoughtful travel that puts the well-being of host communities first is clear.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on September 28, 2021.

(Jaco J. Hamann, Professor of Religion, Psychology and Culture, Vanderbilt Divinity School. The opinions expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)