Sometimes, to understand something, it’s necessary to distance oneself from it. Take a vacation, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. For example, since I had left Poland for Japan, I gained a new appreciation for my nation’s heritage. Admittedly, moving to another country is an extreme example, but the principle applies to a number of things, good and bad. To realize you have an addiction, you have to try to quit. To make a decision, sometimes you need to forget about it. To really appreciate your friends and family, you have to miss them. And we can taste food most discriminately when hungry, treasure each coin when lacking money and sleep best when tired. Human nature is irrational like that.

A trip out to nature with a group of people is a healthy kind of mini-vacation away from our daily environment and routine. Meeting new people, especially from other cultures, gives us a fresh perspective on the world, and ourselves. Out of reach of emails, messages and reminders, we have to pocket our phones and use our eyes for looking around, our hands to grasp for balance, rather than tap on glass screens. We have to carry our own food and water, or be hungry and thirsty. And, until the end of the hike, the money we have is of little value. And trees. Trees provide the ultimate change of perspective. They’ve been there before we came and will remain after we’re gone. Welcoming us and whispering the most profound and universal advice of all: “Breathe!”