Thinking about getting back into the travel game but feeling a bit anxious about it?
Jules Jean-Pierre, a marriage and family therapist and mental health counselor who works in Orange Park, Florida, offers tips for managing everything from general anxiety to predictive anxiety and ways to deal with them to make your trip relaxing.
When it comes to general travel anxiety, Jean-Pierre advises making sure you have your medication for anxiety on hand. She also noted that, for those who don't have medication, meditation and breathing exercises can provide a feeling of control.
“During one of my tips, I discovered that one of the channels on the flight was a meditation channel!” So look for that when you’re browsing the in-flight entertainment options. And of course, there are apps you can pre-load to your phone. Calm, Shine, Serenity, Liberate, Headspace, Sleep Sounds and Exhale are all good options she stands behind, but “I personally would listen to Exhale,” she confides. “It’s an emotional well-being app designed for women of all colors and it specifically speaks to assisting me in tapping into what they call ‘soul medicine.’”
There are other travel anxieties that are predictive, such as motion sickness and misbehaving children. Jean-Pierre's advice for the fear of what could happen is to be prepared.
The behavior of others can also be unpredictable and also causes anxiety for many travelers.
The fear of judgment, not the actual behavior of the children, is actually what creates the pre-travel anxiety.
Again, Jean-Pierre recommends being prepared with distractions for kids on hand.
Some gear to get to help with anxiety includes noise-canceling headphones and a weighted blanket.
Jean-Pierre also noted that for people with travel anxiety, it's not necessarily something you can pack that can prevent it.
“If a person is in therapy, it’s important to work on determining the root cause of the travel anxiety and work on it with (their) therapist," she said. "Each person is unique to their trauma and associated anxiety. … Our brains are unique in the many pathways of association to painful memories, so that’s something that can be discovered in session with a therapist."
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