It’s easy to behave as if your job is the most important thing in your life. You spend so much of your time at work. You construct your days around getting there on time. While there, you toil away at your tasks, hustle to meetings, play at office politics, and barely squeeze in a lunch–all so that you can advance in your career and work some more.

But this rat race takes it’s toll–many Americas report feeling stressed out, depressed, and tired on a regular basis. Happiness at work plays a major part. In addition to spending time with family and friends, taking time to focus on the hobbies you love, and getting a good night’s sleep every night, there’s at least one other way to greatly improve your quality of life! Take a vacation!!

I love my career. I’m a content expert by trade, helping small business owners build brand awareness through great content that earns them huge profits. But when I’m not making people money, I travel, a lot. I’ve visited over 30 countries and territories on five continents. My life goal: visit 100 countries in my lifetime. This blog will chronicle those trips. My travels have opened my mind to why everyone should treat themselves to at least one trip per year. Here’s five reason to book yours now!

1. An Opportunity to Recharge

Planning a vacation is easier than ever. With so many travel deals sites, airlines, and destinations offering cut-rate packages that can include air, hotel, car rentals, excursions, and more, all you need to do is pay and show up. Whether you’re an adventure traveler, a beach bum, an architecture and art buff, or a club hopper, your vacation activities will get  your mind off of the daily grind and provide you with an opportunity to recharge your batteries.

2. Gain Perspective

Traveling, particularly outside of the United States, can offer you a whole new perspective on life. Seeing how others live around the world can either make you feel profoundly blessed or provoke you to desire a new way of life. These fresh experiences can influence innovative ideas at work and in your home. The people you meet abroad will leave their impressions on you–and it’s your choice to either adopt an open mind or shut yourself off to a world bigger than you are able to perceived it.

3. Food for the Brain

My favorite thing to do before every trip is to dive into guidebooks, Google, and TripAdvisor so that I can learn every thing about the place I intend to visit. The impending visit gives me a reason to learn the history and culture of a place I might not have read about otherwise. The info you’ve read will come alive once you’re on location and solidify itself in your brain. Now I have a wealth of knowledge to share with my friends, family, and you!

4. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

You can’t go to another country and not be confronted with new languages, food, culture, currency, etc. Embrace it. Learn some of the language before you go so that you can have basic communication with the locals. Don’t be afraid to try that fish with the head still on it or that bug on a stick. Carry local currency so that you can buy from the small markets and eat at the off the beaten path restaurants.

5. Be an Inspiration

Once I began traveling, I have never run out of conversation at a dinner party. Everyone wants to know where I’ve been and what happened there. I can actually see the gears in their brains working to plan their own visit to that destination. I’ve inspired so many friends to start there own travel goals–maybe not 100 countries–but just enough to spark the kind of joy you can only get when you step foot on a gangway.