How to Handle Summertime Anxiety (Part 2): Going Away on Vacation

Summertime travel is supposed to be fun but can lead to a lot of anxiety. Learn why traveling is so hard for someone struggling with anxiety and steps that can help make a trip easier.



Vacations Can Make You Feel Trapped

Being away is also hard because it often involves other people. You often have to go along with others’ schedules or plans. This further disrupts your schedule and leaves you little to no time to decompress. Instead, you’re constantly managing anxiety symptoms. The fact that you are away from home is just geography.

You have to plan a getaway or vacation given who you are and what you need, not based on what others need you to be.

I’m not telling you to be an insensitive jerk. There is a wide continuum between compromising and completely ignoring everything you know about yourself. No matter what, know what you can and can’t handle. Make sure you plan with that in mind. It’s also a good idea to explain your needs to anyone you’re traveling with. Hopefully, they will listen, understand, and help you.



Four Essential Anxiety Management Steps For Travelling

Here are four steps to follow when planning anything from a day trip to vacation. These will maximize the chances that you will be as comfortable and prepared as possible. As a result, they increase the likelihood you will enjoy yourself.

1) Schedule Time to Be Alone:

You need to build in time to be by yourself to decompress. This can be anything from reading a book in a quiet room to going for a walk. Locking yourself in the bathroom for 15 minutes totally counts.

2) Eliminate Surprises:

The human brain isn’t wired to like surprises or the unexpected. An anxious brain hates the unexpected. It’s already jumpy enough.

Do as much research as possible ahead of time about where you are going, accommodations, restaurants, rest stops, etc. Watch videos about what it’s like to actually visit that place. YouTube seems to have videos of every place on earth.

Stay away from PR videos on destination web sites. They tend to highlight the lovely and overlook what it’s actually like to be there. Make a plan so that you have a rough idea of where you’ll be going.



You should also always have a plan B for activities and restaurants. This will help you feel less trapped.

3) Make the Destination Exciting:

Make it worth it. I can’t stress this point enough.  If you are going to take a risk and expose yourself to a lot of discomfort, you should be getting something out of it.

4) Expect to Be Anxious and Plan Accordingly:

This one is all about attitude and mindset. Make the conscious choice to be there. Accept you may be physically and emotionally uncomfortable.

Come prepared with a list of statements you can tell yourself to help you focus on getting what you can out of the experience instead of on your anger. It can be as simple as “I want to be here and I can do this.” A simple phrase can make all the difference in how you look at an obstacle.

Widen Your Safety Zone

When you are dealing with chronic anxiety, the world becomes very small, very quickly. This gives you a sense of safety and control. The problem is that, in order to maintain this sense of safety, you have to keep making the circle smaller.

I want you to work on making the safety zone bigger. Depending on your situation, it may mean going out to dinner in another town. If you are really up for a challenge, go somewhere completely new and stay overnight.

You want and deserve a full life. Getting out and seeing the places on your list are part of that.



Next Steps

Enjoying your time away from home involves knowing what you need, a willingness to take some risks, and preparing ahead of time.

If you combine the recommendations from this post, and from Part 1, you’ll give yourself a much better shot at success.

Don’t plan a vacation based on who you hope you can be. Vacation isn’t the time to work out significant issues. It’s a good time to stretch, not go head first into your greatest fear.

Instead, plan something fantastic based on what you know.

You can also forward this post and Part 1 (How to Manage Summertime Anxiety) to anyone you may be spending time with so that they can understand your situation.