They say you can’t run away from your problems, but what if the person running away is never the same person who returns? What if the current version of ourselves is not equipped to solve the challenges or deal with the pain before us, but a future version of us knows exactly how to carry on? What if the answer is not sitting in our sorrow or accepting the status quo, but gifting ourselves a unique chance to grow into someone more centered or resilient?

A few months ago, I was listening to a song that began with a man’s simple words:

“When there’s nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire.”

It’s impossible to count the number of times a similar phrase has echoed through my mind as I was in the throes of a travel experience:

I am never going home again.

As it turns out, this is true. While in that moment I may have seriously contemplated living life as a bartender in Thailand or a fashion designer in Italy, I more seriously meant that I was never going home again, because that version of myself was never to return.

Whether a few hours from home in a Getaway House or in a far-away country where I did not speak the language, the person I was before that transformative travel moment was never quite the same. The girl who packed her bags and boarded the plane —sad, worried, unsure, anxious or simply excited for adventure — was never the same person who landed at home days or weeks later. Something within me had always grown, and this growth would likely not have been possible had I not chosen to temporarily vacate my everyday life.

A new perspective gained. An old belief dropped. A new friend made. A completely new town explored. A breakup I never believed I would recover from. Anxiety I never thought would subside. A food I’d never tried before (that time I ate goat brains and found out an hour later).

Every time I’ve considered — literally — never going home again, it was a peak moment in my life. Watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat on the solstice. Standing in Marbella’s town square under a clock tower as it chimed, watching shop owners open their storefronts. Belly laughing over a vat of paella in Barcelona with my late father. Getting teary eyed over a glass of really, really good Sauvignon Blanc in California. Sitting in front of an expansive window overlooking the woods of Virginia on a solo 6-day digital detox trip. Sleeping in the dirt atop a mountain in Thailand surrounded by chickens and other backpackers.

Whatever anger, worry, scarcity, indecision or fear I left behind was simply, behind me. Replaced by present moment awareness and a new lens through which I saw my life.

At times it was hard coming home a different version of myself. Partners, family and friends didn’t always accept it or understand it. The reactions of those around us, especially well-meaning loved ones, can deter us from taking the action we know we need to take for our own lives. But nevertheless, those who experience the new are, well, renewed. And while my life situation was always the same when I returned home to it, I wasn’t the same.

I lived life differently, because I was different. That problem or decision I left behind was no longer a stagnant energy blocking me from where I wanted to go in life, but something more easily overcome with the aid of a new perspective or renewed spirit and resilience.

While I’ve been fortunate to have the resources to travel far and wide, great expense was never a prerequisite. Here are some ways to gain a sense of distance and novelty:

Travel at least 1500 miles from home and plan at least two months in advance, even if your time away doesn’t necessarily require extensive planning. Research from Project Time Off suggests that these parameters are guidelines for actually getting that “away” feeling.

Explore a new neighborhood or street near your current home. Leave your phone behind and set your watch for at least three hours. Avoid making any big plans for the rest of the day so you have time to settle into wherever you are and simply be.

Create an away mindset wherever you go. You can actually cultivate a sense of “away” or new by simply experiencing familiar surroundings, food, people and the like through the eyes of someone who has never been to your town or country.

Case in point: Never underestimate the power of leaving it all behind for a while. It’s not a goodbye, but a see you later from a slightly (or completely) new you.

Gianna Biscontini is a behavior scientist, lifestyle design coach, author and founder of the cultural analytics company, W3RKWELL. She has traveled to 42 countries.