Travel & Managing Wellness
Summer seems to be the time for mini-trips, long vacations, and weekend get-aways. With the summer months upon us, we are writing a blog series on traveling, the stress of traveling, and what to do about routine, structure and wellness practices on the road.
Vacations can be stressful. We are away from our routines, our comfort, spaces and people. Vacations demand more time to accomplish the tasks we complete without a second thought at home. Exploring new locations can mean we end up off track and lost. Traveling with children involves managing their schedules, their desires and their needs in addition to our own. There are instances when traveling involves seeing family we haven’t seen in a while. Reconnecting can be exciting and it can also bring a level of unexpected anxiety. All of these occasions bring about varying degrees of stress and sometimes we feel the need to take a vacation from our vacation when we get home.
Therefore, self-care is important during vacations. It can be easy to be caught up in new adventures and not make time for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. During the unstructured time of travel and vacations, there is danger of regressing in the healthy habits and rituals we have developed. Sometimes, we use vacations as an excuse to leave the tediousness of self-care behind. Once we relapse into unhealthy patterns, it can be difficult to get back on track.
In order to return from our travels without feeling like we need a vacation from our vacation, planning is a necessity. Prior to leaving home, research new venues that offer the food choices that you need to stay healthy and on track with your eating goals. Embrace the idea of experiencing new healthy foods from local cultures. Research activities that equal the level of exercise to which your body is accustomed. If yoga and meditation are part of your daily practice, appreciate the new environment in which your practice is conducted. If your vacation takes you near a beach, find a yoga practice near the ocean. If you are exploring the desert, find a meditation held under the hot sun. Finally, if you so desire, you can even plan your entire vacation as a wellness retreat.
As partners of Andrea & Co who live in three different states, we travel often to be together. In our experience, we have found that it is important to support each other by being open, accepting and sensitive to where each of us are at in life. Because our time together is precious and often fleeting, it is meaningful that we each give time and space for individual practices. We have discovered it is equally important to be open to accommodating food choice, desired movement and spiritual rituals; joining in when possible and approaching the new endeavors as an opportunity of growth, for self and relationship.
Check out our series this month on how we individually approach self-care and wellness practices on the road. Please share with us your experiences of travel challenges, how do you work through them and what have you learned.
Love,
Andrea & Co