On June 4th, my family was able to take a an incredible trip to Paris and London. I have wanted to go to Paris since I was 15 and learning French in Madame Funge’s class at Tokay High School. My daughter has wanted to go for thenpast four years, since she found out the Women’s World Cup Soccer Tournament was being held there this summer. My son wanted to see a play in London, and my husband is willing to travel pretty much wherever we want to go.
The thing is, we each have some form of anxiety or other mental health issue that makes travel so much more difficult for us.
I’m sharing this experience from my point of view, how travel with my family affects me and how I handle it as a person who has anxiety. I’m not a doctor or therapist and I can’t tell you how to do your life. I only want you to know that if you have anxiety, you’re not alone. If you have anxiety and want to travel, you can.
As much as I was looking forward to this trip, I was terrified of this trip. I have a child who needs to have structure, doesn’t do well with changes and is very picky about food. I have another child recovering from a concussion, I didn’t know how she’d handle an 11 hour plane ride or all the plans we had. Then there’s me and my brain, able to leap to the worst possible scenario in a single bound. All the “what if” questions that constantly swirl through my mind. Beginning with “what if we miss our flight?” to, “what if there’s a terrorist attack at the stadium?”
I’m telling you, I didn’t sleep more than 5 hours a night, on a good night, for weeks leading up to this trip or during the trip because of the thoughts.
So, what did I do to help myself?
First, I planned. Then planned some more. Finally, I did even more planning.
My family laughs at my itineraries, I make them for every trip we go on, except to the beach. It helps me stay calm while on the trip. All the decisions of where to go and what to see are done before we leave. I think they all secretly enjoy knowing what we’re doing too, because each evening they ask me what we’re doing the next day. I think they like knowing there’s a plan.
Planning also helps me make sure we have downtime. Especially for the concussed kid. She needed time to rest each day, whether that meant an early evening or an afternoon break. I can make sure we do that and don’t just let the day get away from us while we’re out sight seeing.
My family knows that traveling terrifies me and triggers my anxiety, but they also know, that I will never allow anxiety to stop me from traveling. There are so many places I want to explore.
It’s important for them to know that anxiety doesn’t rule my life. Sometimes it beats me up a little bit and knocks me around, but it doesn’t keep me down.
As nerve-wracking as this trip was, it was even more amazing, incredible, awesome. I got to see places I’ve only seen in pictures and movies, like the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, Notre Dame and the Pantheon. I got to see places I’d never even heard of before I started planning this trip like the Paris Catacombs or Novelty Animation in London. I got to see 2 Women’s World Cup Soccer matches in Paris, Matilda, the play, in London, the Harry Potter Studio in London and I got to go to Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios in Paris.
Not only did I get to do and see all that, but I was able to experience most of it with my whole family. (My husband got a sinus infection and had to skip out on a few things.) Sure, the kids argued some, and I was only able to get them in one picture, but we have memories that will last a lifetime.
Anxiety sucks! It will tell you that you can’t do things.
It lies!
You can do things!
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