Stuck in a Rut? Take a Trip!
When I begin to feel stuck in a rut, I plan a trip. I LOVE to travel. For as long as I can remember, I have loved taking trips. When I was approximately 8 years old and we were still living in Illinois, my mom took me on a road trip with her and one of her friends from Illinois to Florida. I believe that was probably when I got the travel bug.
Take a vacation to decompress
Staying in hotels, eating at different restaurants for every meal and seeing how the different states had different landscapes was all a thrill for me. I am the oldest of 5 kids and being the only one of my siblings asked to join my mom on her trip made me feel really special.
Growing up in Illinois, our summer vacations were typicallygoing to Wisconsin to my grandparent’s cabin on the lake. These were cherished summer vacations. After moving to Florida, for the first fewyears we continued taking summer vacations to the Midwest. Until the age of 18, my only exposure was tothe Midwest and SW Florida.
First Solo Trip
At the age of 18, I flew alone, to California to visit my boyfriend who was in the Marines. It was my first time traveling alone so I had to navigate the process of air travel, airports, taxis, etc. by myself. While there was some anxiety - this was in 1985, long before cell phones, etc., I came home feeling very liberated.
I LOVE flying, road trips, cruises – any kind of trip that will remove me from my “life” for just a while truly helps me to forget about any stresses or struggles at home and re-group. Travel allows me to sort of RE-SET my life. When I'm away, I typically don't dwell on anything happening at home. I'm able to really immerse myself in my vacation.
Travel with my kids
When my son was 11, we were taking a family road trip to Maine from SW Florida. We had planned to be on vacation for 2 weeks, traveling the local highways rather than the Interstates so that we could “pull off” whenever we saw something of interest and spontaneously, “check it out”.
It was during this trip that my son said to me (something like) ‘Mom, wouldn’t it be cool if we could go to every state in the USA?’. I responded (something like), ‘well, maybe we can’. So, I made the decision at that time that we would begin the journey and make it a challenge to visit every state in the USA before he graduated from college.
I had taken my son to the Bahama’s when he was 10 and we’d taken several weekend trips since he was 6 so I knew we were compatible travelers and if he enjoyed traveling as much as I did, I thought this would be a wonderful experience for us.
I put together an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of each state we’d each visited and began putting together a game plan to accomplish our goal of visiting every state by the end of Year 2026. So far, we’re on track and after this summer, we’ll have to average 2-3 states per year to check every state off of the map.
Planning our Annual Vacation
I begin planning our Spring Break trip’s in January. By then I’ve already determined which state (s) we’re going to visit. So, using Booking.com, I begin my planning which includes booking the flights and hotels, but also all of the fun things we’re going to do to “experience” the state we’re visiting. We make it a point to eat in local restaurants (no chain’s). We tour the town we’re in and do whatever is unique to that state.
Just the planning stage can start to refuel me and give me something to look forward to. As soon as some of the vacation decisions have been made, I'm beginning the countdown to the departure day. I begin putting together my travel backpack and thinking about what I'm going to pack.
- Underseat Roller-bag
- Travel Backpack
- Reusable Water Bottle
- doTerra OnGuard Mist
- Travel Pillow
When visiting Phoenix, we saw the Grand Canyon. When visiting Houston we saw a Rodeo and in San Antonio, we toured the Caverns and took a boat tour down the Riverwalk. In Minneapolis, we, of course, checked out the Mall of America.
We’re going to San Francisco in March so of course, we’ll visit Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, the "crookedest street" and the Cable cars, as well as Alcatraz. Our trips are typically packed full of fun and we’re making special memories every year.
Girls Trips
Every couple of years I try to take a long weekend vacation with my mom and my sisters (my best friends). I always look forward to these trips as well, but for different reasons. We’re all very close and enjoy being with each other.
We live in the same town but we’re all so busy we don’t get a chance to see each other as often as we’d like. So, when we travel together we talk and laugh and just enjoy! These trips are less about the destination (although we do try to go somewhere different) than about the time together.
For me, the idea of taking a trip or vacation fills me with excitement. Just the mention of it from a potential travel companion makes me start to look forward to the next adventure. When I see an airplane flying above me, I just look up and watch it as it slowly passes overhead. Just that makes me want to plan my next vacation.
Anxiety goes along with travel
The preparation of travel gives me some anxiety; I worry that I made the correct reservations, I worry about getting to the airport on time – then I worry that I forgot something important. With every trip, I try to not let this process give me anxiety so that I can enjoy the planning process as much as the actual vacation.
When I get home, I’m always happy to be back, and I’m always feeling a sense of re-set and joy as I reminisce about the memories that were made.
Need a break, plan a trip!
Tell me about some of your favorite vacations – those that gave you a sense of calm and allowed you to Re-Set! Comment below.
With Serenity,
