Travel has many prizes. There are the obvious benefits of visiting a place or experiencing an event in person instead of just reading about it or looking at pictures. What could be better than personally entering the Forbidden City in China or gliding through Venice in a gondola? Seeing other parts of the world close-up changes your understanding of the world, and maybe even your understanding of yourself.

A well-lived life requires another kind of traveling: the inner kind. To live an authentic life, you must get off the beaten path of your everyday existence, taking new emotional and spiritual paths to lead you to your true self. This begins by asking yourself two simple questions:

Am I traveling on the path I meant to take? Do I even know what that path is?

Like many people, you may have just switched on cruise control to get from Point A to Point B out of habit. You’re going through the motions because you don’t have to do anything more.

Maybe it’s time you stopped looking at the pictures of your life and started experiencing your inner world. But just as you can’t get to Beijing or Venice without a plan, you can’t start your inner journey without one either.

Here are the prizes you can win when you travel with a well-thought-out road map to your journey of life:

Road map prize #1: Alignment of your three voices (heart, mind, mouth)

As I’ve written before, everyone speaks with two private voices – the heart and the mind  – and one public, the mouth. We talk to ourselves with the private voices (“I hate working for this company”) and to the world with the public voice we think it wants to hear (“Sure, I’d love to accept that promotion”). To speak authentically, we must align the two voices (and I don’t mean by telling yourself you love your employer!) When you have a road map that tells you where you’re going, you can only speak with one voice.

Road map prize #2: Self-acceptance

Planning your route shows that you are capable of reaching your destination just as you are. You don’t have to trade yourself in for a brand-new version of yourself; no matter how many miles you’ve put on your inner odometer, no matter what dings and dents life has made in your soul, you will see you are good enough to make this journey.

Road map prize #3: Self-care

In the same way, creating your roadmap will show you what you need to take care of yourself and prepare for the journey. Do you need time to yourself to think and plan your journey? Will a massage relax you and help you to focus? Self-care is the fuel that empowers you to move forward and make progress to your destination.  

Road map prize #4: Joy and fulfillment

The last time you took a trip somewhere, how excited were you as you planned your route and prepared for the stops along the way? Creating the roadmap to your fulfilling life’s journey will give you that same feeling of happy anticipation as you realize all the things that will bring you closer to your goal of living an authentic life.

Road Map grand prize: The confidence to live life on your terms

Seeing your route laid out before you, you can’t help but feel confident that you can reach your destination and begin living life as you choose. Now that you’ve seen that it is possible, the road ahead is open and clear, just waiting for you to take the wheel and start moving.

To live an authentic life, you must first examine the path you are on to see if it will take you to your true destination.

Are you road-ready? Before you start traveling, make sure you’ve fueled up. The Passion Test will identify what matters most to you and engage your drive to succeed. Get started by taking the free Passion Test assessment.