I can’t believe we’re already at the end of our first month of 2016. I don’t know about you, but this year has already been infused with lots of adventure, high energy, and even a Mercury Retrograde complication to boot.
As I mentioned earlier this month, the end of last year was really challenging for me because I lost my pup Bella. With a new open space in my life, I decided to do something I’ve never done before–go on a trip for several weeks without an agenda other than seeing friends and working virtually.
This might not sound like a big deal to many if you tend to bounce around from place to place all the time. But in this stage of my life it was a big deal and something I wasn’t open to before now.
I knew I had to up my self-care game. So here are three ways I kept myself feeling grounded and cared for in a totally different environment.
1. Finding comfort in the unfamiliar. LA was my first stop and I stayed with two different friends for 7 days. I tend to feel ungrounded when I’m not in a routine. And after a few days I started to feel uncomfortable.
I realized this had nothing to do with where I was staying or anything that was happening externally. I was just really craving comfort. And I didn’t want to get that comfort in a way that wouldn’t serve me (i.e. GF pizza). So I found 2-3 places I really loved and went back to them often.
Although I wanted to be adventurous and discover new places everyday, it was nice to find some sweet spots to use as regular touch points throughout the trip. Doing this made me feel more grounded and helped me develop the familiarity I needed to feel at home.
2. Setting yourself up for joy. Next up was San Francisco where I spent 10 days. One of the things that helped me feel taken care of was making sure I had a handful of meetings and fun things scheduled before I arrived. They were kind of like goal posts for joy. So even though the first couple of days I stayed alone, I knew I had things to look forward to and get excited about. It helped me stay in the flow of joy having those things to let forward to.
3. Creating space. You know when you return from vacation feeling like you need another vacation? I was super intentional about making sure that didn’t happen when I got home to NYC. I had an incredibly packed schedule waiting for me once I landed so I needed to make sure there were restorative elements to my trip to CA. So while I had these joy goal posts throughout my trip, I also intentionally had downtime. There’s this pressure we put on ourselves when traveling that everything has to be packed to the nines and. And while that’s fun, it’s also incredibly draining. So I made sure to give myself the space and time to chill and restore.
The next time you’re traveling or find yourself beyond busy where there’s a lot of moving parts, know that there are tangible ways to take care of yourself. In fact, if you would like to up the ante on your self-care routine, I invite you to join me for my 21 Days to Super Self-Love Challenge starting tomorrow. Sign up here!
And be sure to join the conversation in the comments below. I’d love to hear how you take care of yourself while you travel.