The fear of visiting a new, unfamiliar place and the stress of travel plans can lead to what’s sometimes called travel anxiety. While it’s not an officially diagnosed mental health condition, anxiety about traveling can become serious for certain people, stopping them from going on a vacation or enjoying any aspect of traveling. Here are useful tips to help you overcome travel anxiety.
The triggers come first
Uncertainty triggers cause an increase in your anxiety symptoms. These triggers can be specific to traveling, such as planning a trip or boarding a plane. They may also include outside influences such as low blood sugar, caffeine, or stress.
Psychotherapy, a treatment option for anxiety, can help you identify your triggers and work through them before traveling. You can also analyze your triggers by writing them down and working on them. No effective change can come without this step.
Organize before leaving
For some people, the thought of leaving home causes anxiety. Leaving the house, kids, or pets alone can cause extreme anxiety. However, like planning for your trip, planning for being away from home can help ease that worry.
Hire a house sitter or ask a friend you trust to stay at your place to help take care of your affairs while you’re away. A good sitter will provide regular updates and communication while you’re away from your house.
The more people, the less anxious
If you have anxiety about traveling alone, bring a travel buddy. If you travel with someone else, there are plenty of partner or group activities to enjoy. You tend to feel comfortable that your anxiety becomes fully subdued.
You might find yourself being more open and adventurous around someone. By the end of the trip, you may have even made a few new friends to travel with. Being around others sets you at ease, no doubt about that.
Prioritize having fun
What’s your favorite activity that helps reduce your anxiety? For some people, video games and movies offer a visual distraction to pass the time. Others find comfort in quiet activities, such as books and puzzles. Just make sure to engage in yours.
Whatever your distraction is, consider bringing it along for the ride. Enjoyable distractions can help keep off negative thoughts and give you something positive to focus on instead. You feel less anxious When you focus on something other than your anxiety.
Proper Planning
Pre-travel anxiety most often stems from the “what if” aspect of traveling. While no one can plan for every possible worst-case scenario, having a battle plan for some of the more common ones is possible. It helps you settle down.
By preparing for scenarios like getting lost or running out of money, you’ll see that most problems have a solution, even while traveling. The ‘what if’ fear would dissolve into an interest in having fun on your journey- you’ll only think of them.
