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Tracee Ellis Ross is opening up about traveling the world with her mother, singer Diana Ross, as a child. Additionally, the 50-year-old actor is sharing how the experience shaped her present adult life and overall view of wellness.
The “black-ish” actor sat down for an exclusive interview with Travel + Leisure published Monday. During the conversation, Ross explained that travel is “very important” to her and solo travel is how she’s “come to know and honor” herself.
Additionally, the actor reflected on traveling abroad with her mother, Diana Ross, and even living in Switzerland and Paris as a child.
“I feel like I’m a child of the world,” Ross told the outlet. “Growing up this way allowed me to understand that, even though people may not speak the same language, we are all the same. And that allowed me to feel safe anywhere. The things that make us different are what make life so robust and textured.”
Ross explained that as a result of her travel as a youth, she understands that “home lives inside” herself.
“Because of the magnitude of my mother’s life and the way she mothered, I know that home lives inside me, the 50-year-old explained. “I can find and create a home wherever I am. It’s part of the reason that I have a lot of compassion for my overpacking — because home just comes with you.”
Additionally, Ross admits that the experience also made her unabashedly aware of herself and her shortcomings. The actor explained that she’s not “great with new people” and doesn’t have a “sense of adventure.”
“Another result is that I’m not great with new people. I used to have so much shame about that. But I realized, if you think back to my childhood, it would be weird if I trusted people immediately. The more I get to know myself, the more compassion I have for myself,” she explained. “The other funny thing that is a result of my upbringing is that I don’t have a sense of adventure. I play an extrovert, but I’m an introvert. I love my own company and my world is very quiet… So much of my life is output, so I recharge with a quiet, simple, routine life. It’s how I find comfort.”
Ross directly credited her present outlook with the “adventurous” and “terrifying” experience of “going to boarding school in Switzerland at 14 years old.”
“My mom tried to make it not scary, but it still was,” Ross admitted. “I don’t think my sisters had the same experience I had. For my nervous system, my temperament, it was a lot.”
As the interview continued, Ross explained that traveling does not have to be expensive. However, she’s aware that having the time to travel “is a luxury.” Due to this reason, Ross believes that it is her “responsibility” to be “mindful” of how she’s “experiencing joy.”
“There are ways to travel so it’s not expensive, but having the time in one’s life to travel is a luxury — one that everyone deserves… So many people work really hard, and everybody deserves those things,” Ross explained. “I recognize that the luxury that I experience is expensive, and I don’t adhere to this whole ‘blessed’ thing because I picked a lucky straw. I feel like my job as a human is to take that straw and use it responsibly and with accountability — and then also enjoy it.”
The 50-year-old added that “experiencing joy is a revolutionary act.”
“Experiencing joy is a revolutionary act, especially for a woman of color in America. And so I’m very mindful of how I do it, and also that I’m not wasting it. It’s an abundance that I absorb into every cell of my body.”
As for the actor’s travel tips for other women of color, Ross says it’s important to first decipher if solo traveling is a fit for them.
“Start by going to dinner by yourself on a Friday night. See if you can do that. And you might not be a person who can do that. You might say, ‘I’m not doing that ever again.’ Then you’re not somebody who can go on vacation by yourself.”
