Why Travel Can be Disruptive...and What to do About it
The call of the wild is not something that many of us escape these days. It seems like the busier we get the more we crave distance from our daily lives and a "vacation" from the ordinary. We feed this craving social media images of far off, exotic places and read about the experiences of others until it happens - the call is just too strong! We book an adventure!
The funny thing about escaping the familiar is that it can cause quite a bit of anxiety once the travel plans ball starts rolling. Even if we have done our research and have booked our travel with experienced companies like Inbody Expeditions, there is an uncertainty that can get the best of us if we are not prepared for the feelings and emotions travel can uproot.
Sure, we feel excited and optimistic but it's important to acknowledge what happens at our core when we take off from the unfamiliar. Travel, even well planned travel, can be disruptive to our grounded centers. Our daily lives can start to feel stifling and mundane but there is something to be said about the feelings of safety that are cultivated when we know what to expect.
When we travel, we often don't know what to expect - or our expectations are not met in the way that we had originally thought. This can be disruptive and make us feel unsafe, which isn't really all that relaxing is it? So many people come home from travel feeling worn out, tired, unfulfilled, and honestly - worse off than before they had boarded a plane, so how can we make sure that we take our grounded center - our feelings of safety - with us when we travel. Here are our top 3 tips for staying grounded while you travel.
1. Allow yourself to seek familiar when you start to feel overwhelmed. In 1992 my mother traveled to Barcelona for the Summer Olympics. She and my step-father traveled all over Europe before wrapping up their trip to see the famous "Dream Team" play basketball. She ended every single day in Barcelona at McDonalds. It was her safety net, her piece of home, the place she felt comfortable in a culture that was brand new to her.
Now you may not need a Big Mac to feel grounded. It could just be some quiet time away from the noise to sit alone in the grass or on a bench. Maybe you need to close your eyes and listen to a song that transports you back to your hometown, friends, or family. Whatever it is, take that pause and regroup.
2. Don't try to be someone different on vacation. If your ideal adventure is somewhat low-key and more passive than a 5-day TOP TEN SITES crowded tour, then make sure your itinerary reflects the experience you want to have. If you don't like busy jam-packed street at home, you probably won't like them on vacation either. Now, it's important to be open to new experiences and allow yourself some room for growth in the unfamiliar, but don't fill your days with things you wouldn't normally want to do. This is the fastest way to create travel burnout and lose your grounded center.
3. Go with the flow, and understand the flow may be different. As we begin to plan our adventures and that little alarm in our safety center goes off, we can start to feel anxious about our plans. We want to make sure every detail is accounted for so "nothing goes wrong." The first step in making sure nothing goes "wrong" is to maintain the perspective that we can't anticipate or control everything and build a little wiggle room into our plans. By proclaiming we won't always control the flow, but we will try our best to go with it, we've already alleviated a lot of preempted worry.
If you can't control a delayed flight, maybe it's time to bust out the EarPods and let Springsteen transport you to a space that isn't an airport filled with antsy people. But you're not antsy - look at you, Zen master. Flowing like the best of them.
Travel doesn't have to be disruptive to our center, as long as we understand why we are feeling a little "off" and have ways to ground ourselves, even unexpected experiences can be positive ones! If you are ready to be supported in your adventures, we are booking discovery calls for our Nepal 2020 trip - March 17 - 27. Email Jon at team@inbodyexpeditions to discover if this trip is right for you.
Namate,
Lindsay