How to Manage Fear and Anxiety While Traveling
My blood pressure starts to rise, I can hear my heart beating in my ears, hyperventilation is inevitable. I haven’t even booked the trip yet. All of the fears of what could happen are conceptualizing in my mind. The fear of the unknown takes over and you are left with the symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety while traveling is normal and can be managed.
Table of Contents
Causes
There are many situations that can cause you to have anxiety while traveling.
- Flight complications
- Getting stuck in a location
- Language barrier
- Transportation
- Injury or illness
- Dangerous neighborhoods
- Price of things and going over budget
- Crowds
- Communication (phone)
- Forgetting something
Do not allow these fears to stop you from seeing the world and having wonderful experiences. There are multiple ways to manage these angsts.
How to Manage
Anxiety is a type of fear. Suffering from anxiety is a common ailment, the American Psychiatric Association states that 30 percent of adults suffer from anxiety at some point in their life.
Mind
Maintain a Positive Attitude
One way to manage the anxiety while traveling is to try to maintain a positive attitude with the situation you are feeling unsure about. It is like having your mind over matter. It has been proven that a mind is a powerful tool that you can utilize without much effort at any time. This just takes a little practice to obtain your desired result. Learn mantras that you can repeat when you feel unsure of a situation, that will help maintain a positive attitude.
Accept That You Can Not Control Everything
With each hickup that presents it’s self take a closer look at it. Is it really as bad or as horrible as it seems? Humans tend to overexaggerate things that cause stress and they come out seeming worse than they really are. It is all about the perspective of the problem.
Expect things to go wrong in a healthy way before they do. Once you are prepared for what could happen you can calmly follow these steps to resolve and move forward. Don’t fear the unknown, just follow its lead.
When things go wrong just take a deep cleansing breath. Then look at the situation like a box of crayons that have fallen over. You need to find each color and place them back into the box by the color type. One crayon at a time. It is not the end of the world. If you take any unknowns one step at a time and tell yourself it is not a big deal, I am a survivor, you will succeed.
Body
There are some items you should try to reframe from your diet or keep to a minimum. They include caffeine and alcohol or any substance that will elevate and depress your body’s natural processes.
Include well-balanced meals every day and make sure not to skip any meals including snacks for energy when needed.
Get your advised amount of exercise to keep your mind and body healthy and strong. Exercise helps with more than just body strength, it also helps regulate the chemicals in your brain. Please check out my other blog about physical and mental health called 8 Reasons Why Traveling Boosts Your Mental Health.
Get enough rest when under any stress or fearful situations. Your body will need additional sleep and rest after undergoing anxiety and stress to help you recover, try and get at least 8 hours of sleep. There is more detailed information on sleep methods in a previous blog I Can’t Sleep! please check it out.
Actions to Practice
Begin by learning relaxing breathing techniques. Inhale deeply and exhale slowly throughout the day when you feel a rise in anxiety or stress. Do this while slowly counting to 10.
Look for support from friends, family or professionals when you feel like you are losing control. This can help ground you, make you realize that you are not alone and can manage your symptoms. Talk therapy is a great way to help calm the mind and soul.
Take some time out for yourself. Quiet alone time can be the best medicine for when you feel fear, anxiety, and stress. Listen to calming or uplifting music, meditate, practice yoga, stepping back from your stressors to help open up your perspective and ground you.
Try to take time out from what you are doing and take some time with nature, sunlight, and some fresh air. Being one with nature really helps bring you back to earth and know we are all standing there going through similar situations.
Conclude
To conclude, you do not have to be afraid of the unknown and have anxiety while traveling. Don’t let it cause you unnecessary stress and worry. There are many ways to cope with anxiety and fear. The key is to just take a step back and look at the situation as only a temporary setback, it is not the end, you will figure out how to succeed. Just take each situation one step at a time, be in the moment and try to keep calm by breathing and keeping a positive attitude about the bump in the road. There is a whole world to explore with some great unknowns waiting for you to discover. Just remember my travel friends, we are in this together.