Travel in many ways contributes to wellbeing – here are just a couple of examples:
🗺️ “Psychological richness” – the feeling that we are living life rich in experiences and adventures, is one of the aspects that contribute to the sense of meaning in life
🍂 Mindfulness – novelty in our environment and excitement of travel pulls us into naturally being more mindful, present, and curious
🎢 Positive emotions – travel often provokes awe, curiosity, relaxation, joy, and excitement
🖇️ Deepening connection – shared moments, mindful conversations and joint adventures strengthen our connection with people with whom we share it
But travel can also sabotage us in maintaining our wellbeing – especially if we do a lot of it, or for longer trips.
Here are 5 wellbeing traps to keep in mind when traveling - and seek to avoid:
💣 Physical wellbeing: travel makes it more difficult to keep up with quality nutrition, sabotages our sleep, and sports can be less convenient to do.
💣 Mental wellbeing: Falling in FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and chasing ALL possible experiences instead of savoring the chosen one fully. It includes doing what you are “supposed to” do at that destination (eg ticking off all the tourist sights, without mindfully enjoying each).
💣 Emotional wellbeing: Adapting too much to someone else (partner, group) instead of understanding and respecting what is our style and preference and especially our needs
💣 Sensory wellbeing: Not creating a bit of silent space to process experiences and get grounded, and getting overwhelmed by experiences while missing to truly savor them
💣 Mental & Emotional wellbeing: Capturing more photos than memories – not many things kick us out of mindfulness and savoring faster than looking at beautiful views through the screen of our phone instead of savoring it directly. Of course, it makes all the sense to take a couple of photos that will remind us of these experiences in years to come. Yet, let’s keep experiencing the moment as our first priority, shall we?
While we cannot always avoid these 5 fully, we do wanna be aware of them – and avoid them when we can.
Also, balancing them out with some proactive activities positive for our wellbeing can be most helpful.
Here are 5 practical tips to support your wellbeing when traveling:
🤸 Physical wellbeing: stretching (yoga mat, massage ball, foam roller), reusable Water bottle and apps, and healthy snacks
📚 Mental wellbeing: Kindle
🎧 Sensory wellbeing: Noise reduction headphones and Loop
🐿️ Emotional wellbeing: Not falling into the trap of “doing it all” but instead enjoying chosen experiences fully and mindfully
🧘 Social, sensory, and emotional: take a moment of silence at the end of a busy day – a moment when you simply sit with yourself for 10 min or so in silence, dark, and stimuli (or with the journal, if writing works better for me) – it very much helps to process all the experiences more deeply, and helps not to get overwhelmed.
Which of these 5 tips would be the most useful for you to use more?
And which of the 5 traps would you like to avoid?
Take a moment to reflect: What else can you do to keep your wellbeing high while traveling?
I am very curious – what do you do to keep your wellbeing high while traveling?
And what is one idea you wanna do even better in the future?
If you still haven’t made any exciting plans for this summer?
There still might be a chance to join us for Learning Getaway on Mindfulness, Savouring and Enjoying Life Fully in Istria, Croatia, in the first week of October.
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