You were probably taught in school about the importance of your carbon footprint.

Wildlife tourism is booming. From jungle hikes to open-ocean dives, more and more travellers are seeking out encounters with animals in the wild, or something that resembles it. And while that curiosity and interest in nature can be a really good thing, there’s a darker side to it too.

During my master’s program, I came into contact with several conservation projects in Malaysia. My whole life, I’ve been searching for purpose, and I truly thought conservation was where I’d make a difference. I wanted to change the world.

I wanted to write this because it’s not a topic that’s brought up often by travelers or bloggers. Mental health, and especially the less ‘Instagrammable’ sides of it, often gets left out of the narrative. This is for anyone who might feel isolated or misunderstood while traveling, especially if you’re navigating the road with a mental health condition like bipolar disorder. When people picture long-term travel, they think of adventure, meeting new people, and constant happiness. What they don’t picture is quietly managing mood stabilisers in a guesthouse in rural Peru while trying to figure out if the high-altitude dizziness is physical… or mental.