The Most Important Skill I've Learned While Traveling
If you are new here, welcome! And if you’re a seasoned supporter, then welcome back! Please grace me with a few sentences to show my manners and re-introduce myself. 🙂
My name is Nailah (pronounced Ny-ee-luh), and I am:
a 10x published author
a non-fiction book editor
a doctoral student who moved across the country at 37 to attend school and, honestly, reset my life
a traveling writer who loves to share stories about my travel experiences on social media
This is actually a great transition into today’s re-introductory blog post:
The Most Important Skill I’ve Learned While Traveling
I’m sure my opinions will build as I continue to travel, but as it stands, this is what I’ve observed while exploring Africa, Asia, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and domestic cities and states in between. Also, let me state that I am a U.S. citizen who's lived overseas in South Korea in 2012, so a lot of my rhetoric comes from that experience.
I digress.
The most important skill I’ve learned while traveling is to practice cultural competence or show cultural competency. According to Merriam-Webster, competence is “the quality or state of having sufficient knowledge, judgment, skill, or strength” while competency is the ability to act on this knowledge. And when you add “cultural” to this definition, one can deduce that cultural competence is the ability to respect other cultures. That means respecting their values, attitudes, beliefs, and so on.
It’s your capacity to eat foods that are not native to your country.
It’s your capacity to learn basic greetings in another language.
It’s your capacity to be patient when other cultures don’t move at the speed you’re used to.
Cultural competence is your willingness to be culturally aware, and I highly encourage everyone (including myself) to put this into practice when traveling, especially abroad. Is it necessary in order to experience another way of life? Not quite. But I like to compare cultural competence to soft skills in the workplace. You technically don’t need them to complete a task. However, most jobs require you to work well with others. It’s beneficial to be adaptable, to respectfully resolve conflicts, and to exude emotional intelligence. In every work environment I’ve been a part of (and there have been many), soft skills were considered characteristics of professionalism. And one of the things professionalism provides is a full experience at the place of exposure.
Well, the same can be said for cultural competence.
It provides travelers with a full experience in a new setting. I honestly feel that the practice of this skill not only teaches us how to become a global citizen, but it also exemplifies how to have human competency in cultural settings. Cultural competence is an extension of hospitality; it’s actually an act of reverse hospitality, where you give other cultures the opportunity to show you hospitality in order to bring them honor.
Now let’s bring this research to life with actionable steps.
Here are my tips for practicing cultural competence and showing cultural competency while traveling:
Use your manners.
At our big ages, I feel like we should all know what this means. You don’t have to voice the differences in lifestyles when you’re traveling outside of your comfort zone. And you most certainly don’t have to be rude. Remember, you are visiting someone else’s home country/state, so treat them how you would want to be treated.
Be open to the new.
This can be new food, new clothing, new excursions, new public policies, new music, new meanings for body language, or new traffic laws. Whatever it is, be open to it, unless it doesn’t align with your morals or religious beliefs, of course.
Check your privilege.
Americans, I’m talking to you, specifically. Other countries don’t do certain things how we’re used to doing them, and that’s okay. But what’s not okay is talking down to someone because of a cultural difference.
In essence, I’ve learned that a little humanity goes a long way!
What have YOU learned while traveling? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Alright, guys, I’m going to stop here. But before I go, let me close out with what you can expect from my blog resurrection. While this particular post is catered to those who love my travel vlogs on YouTube (shameless plug), the core of the N.HARV blog will focus on writing tips as we’ve learned that I’m an author, grad student, and writing consultant.
I promise my content will be streamlined as well as authentic. Meaning, I may randomly be inspired to go against the norm and write a movie review or collegiate critique, but whatever I choose to share will always be in my own voice. It will always be educational. It will always point back to great storytelling.
Thank you for reading until the end.
I hope you learned something and/or were inspired to write a response below.
Until the next blog post,
Nailah