Self-Care and the Travel Conundrum
“Take the time today to love yourself. You deserve it. ”
I travel, whether personally or for work…A LOT. Needless to say, prioritizing self-care when traveling for work can be hard. You have long days, sometimes unexpected meetings, presentations, technology hang-ups, and a lot of eating out. The toll the long days can take on my body can be disastrous if I don’t keep in mind to take care of myself amidst the chaos. In fact, I may be notoriously known for coming home sick. That said, I have picked up some tips along the way:
1. Hydrate – flying, in particular, can be incredibly dehydrating on the body. While you can’t bring full water bottles through security at the airport, consider bringing a collapsible water bottle or regular-size one that you can fill. Many airports now have bottle filling stations and many briefcases have compartments to hold the bottles. If you don’t want to lug one around, make sure to order water during meals or meetings to stay on top of hydration.
2. Schedule in some downtime – I like to joke that I am the most extroverted introvert you will ever meet. That means that I can smile like the best of them, but after so long, my social battery is done for! Sneaking away to your hotel room can be a game changer. I find just sitting or lying down, enjoying the silence, and disconnecting helps me to center and recharge.
3. Bring the comforts of home – packing is never easy, especially if you are trying to keep it to a carry-on size piece of luggage. Hotels can be hot, cold, dry, and even noisy. Some comforts of home that I like to travel with include my travel-size diffuser (using my favorite essential oils at night), salt lamp nightlight, and silk pillowcase (which takes up essentially no space in my luggage). If noise is an issue, download a white noise app and have it play throughout the night (Ocean Sounds is a personal fave). Some of my other favorites include travel humidifiers for those dry rooms, eye or face masks to rejuvenate, and I always pack my favorite herbal teas from home to give me some comfort at the end of a long day.
4. Sleep – Getting acclimated to a new time zone or even getting sufficient sleep in a strange bed can be rough. Any time I am switching time zones by more than one hour, my goal is to adjust to the new zone as quickly as possible. That may mean sleeping on a plane or going to bed in the current time zone (even if it means it is actually hours past my bedtime). I’ve also become an advocate of bringing melatonin supplements with me such as Travelsana or anyone you can get at your local pharmacy.
5. Eating on the road – I have to admit this is the hardest part for me. Not because of allergies or food sensitivities but because I LOVE FOOD. So when I travel, I love to experience the local cuisine. But eating at hotels and restaurants involves portion sizes that are often too big, along with too many courses when you’re eating with a group. The temptation is real! The other side is going all day to meetings and not having time to eat so that by the time you do sit down for a meal, you are HANGRY! Add on, for me, I am a very scheduled eater (need to avoid hangry status) and I have had to come up with some tricks to keep me sane. To start, even when flying, I try to keep nuts or some kind of granola bar on hand to snack on during a busy day. This keeps the hangriness at bay. If I am at dinner with colleagues, I ask if anyone is interested in splitting salads or entrees. For breakfast, I personally go for protein to fill me up and keep me energized. And last, but certainly not least, if I don’t finish what is served, then so be it. Portion control is a topic for another time but suffice it to say, when traveling, I shoot for half and make sure I add in my veges!
