Tom Brady has had the privilege of traveling the world thanks to his success in the NFL. With a net worth of $250 million, no vacation destination is off the map for the GOAT. However, it wasn’t until his recent trip to Dublin, Ireland — his ancestral homeland — that it dawned on Brady why traveling is so beneficial for mental health.
Brady’s tone in this week’s newsletter made it clear he had a great time in the City of Music and Songs. He did some guest-speaking appearances, talked shop on a late-night talk show — The Late Late Show — and even got to play some golf. He penned beautifully how refreshing the trip had been.
But while playing golf, Brady questioned why he felt so good, and so different from normal. It wasn’t like it was the nicest day weather-wise: 64 degrees and cloudy. Tom actually pointed out how that’s a “sh*t day” where he lives in Miami.
Yet, everything simply felt better in Dublin to Brady: the air, the sky, even the grass. He couldn’t figure out why until he realized everything felt so new.
“It didn’t matter whether I was walking the cobblestone streets of Dublin or the fairways of Royal County Down, everything was interesting, or noteworthy, or more,” the former QB wrote.
“I think a big reason I felt that way was because everything was new,” he added.
This is the reason why Brady thinks everyone should at least try to travel. Despite the weather not being as nice as he was accustomed to, he still had a great time in a new environment because it was different. And he thinks people should travel for these new and different experiences.
Brady described his time in Dublin as feeling like he was sometimes walking through a postcard. It helped him break his daily routine and gain a new perspective on his life. Eventually, he came to an epiphany.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that traveling the world has been maybe the greatest privilege to come from my professional success. That’s because travel has exposed me to a tsunami of newness. New foods, new cultures, new people, new languages, new experiences,” Brady added.
This newness changes Tom’s world around. It helps him see things from a different perspective and approach his life differently. In a sense, Brady has benefited from traveling because it has forced him to really pay attention to his immediate surroundings. Which is something we all become numb to when we repeat the same routines every day.
It’s these new perspectives that help Brady grow mentally.
“That may be the greatest benefit of travel: encountering different perspectives and creating new ones of your own. The perspective you gain from travel does two amazing things for your life, no matter who you are or what you do. It allows for new inputs which create new outputs, and it expands time in a way that enriches your perception of each day.”
But how do people who can’t travel break up their daily routines? Not everyone has access to a large bank account ready to book a flight to wherever, whenever. And Brady recognizes that. However, he doesn’t think that people need to travel miles to implement a sense of newness into their lives.
Brady says you can always take a different route to work and pay attention to all the new things you see. Heck, do it for a week and you might start to subtly see things differently.
Or you can simply put down your phone whenever you’re in public. Brady thinks it’s important to sit in silence from time to time, observing your surroundings. Phones often distract us from doing that.
All in all, it’s another good message that Brady delivered through his weekly newsletter. A lot could be learned from what he said. It’s important to switch things up and give yourself new perspectives. It leads to creativity and inspiration, which can curate a successful career and life.
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