Dealing With Stress While Traveling

You just missed your train, now what…

Stress happens in our daily lives all the time, whether we are late for work and just missed the train or attempting to find a last-minute Valentines Day gift. Whether we like it or not its a part of life and for some of us its a major part of life. The fact is we can’t hide from it, life is a stressful thing at times and the best any of us can ever hope for it learning to cope with it.

When we travel we don’t magically remove ourselves from stress, in many ways we increase it. Being out in the world in a place that you don’t know where you most likely don’t speak the same language as everyone else causes stress to increase ten fold. That missed train goes from a small nuisance to a full on panic attack as to when, if ever, another train is going to arrive. Running around like your hair is on fire only begins to make things worse and the more you dwell on it the more the stress begins to tighten its hold. Some nights you’ll wake up in a sweat because you think you have forgotten some all important detail and you’ll find it nearly impossible to get back to sleep. The good news is you’re not alone in having these feelings of stress and with a few simple tricks you’ll be able to get back to square one.

Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk

The first way to overcome the pang of stress is to simple look at the situation that you’re in. For example if you have just missed the train into town there is no need to get bent out of shape and start to panic, most likely another one will becoming shortly. If you just missed the last train to town, you might want to start asking around for a bus or cab. The last thing you should start to do is panic because believe it or not you’re probably not the first person to miss the train or end up in a certain situation and odds are good that there is a contingency plan for just that particular occurence.

The first step is simple analyzing the problem that you now find yourself in and determining if it is something that requires action or in most cases inaction. Often times doing nothing is the correct course to take as once you let go of the things that are stressing you out you find the answer to be a simple task, rather than a herculean undertaking.

Take Baby Steps

If you have assessed and analyzed your current situation and found that you have made an error that requires some type of action, the best thing to do isn’t to dive in head first looking for a way out. Looking before you leap can easily begin to make matters worse and you may find yourself stressing out even further trying to find a quick solution. The best course of action is to proceed to care, and slowly tie up each loose end. Going carefully down the list of things you’ll need to do in order to carry on forward. Taking on everything at once can only serve to stoke the fires of stress and make a very manageable problem into something that actually is out of your control.

The best course of action is to take a step back from the situation entire and gather your thoughts. Taking a five or even ten minute break from the situation may yield the quickest results. Once you have collected yourself the problem should be easier to handle and the path to its solution clear. Taking a quick break and calmly going about solving your predicament will undoubtedly save you stress and years on your life.

Escape The Situation

Some causes of stress cannot be easily or readily solved, some forms of stress come from external goings on that you may never see coming and have no way of controlling. Worst of all many of these kinds of stresses don’t go away they hang around in your everyday life causing you to lose sleep for days on end. The solution is simple enough, you must realize that you can do nothing and accept the problem that is occurring. Getting to that point is another matter altogether and is usually different for every person.

The key is to escape the situation by any means possible and start to put your mind on the things that you can actually control. Sometimes its as simple as doing some basic chores that can get your mind off your struggle and on to something else. If, however, your like me you need something a little more intense to get you out of your stress, I suggest exercise. Not just any exercise but something that’s really going to get your heart up and sweat the stress out.  This works simply for the endorphin release you get from a hard work out, but it also will get you focusing on finishing the run and not your current problems.

I hoped this crash course has been helpful, if you ever find yourself on the road of travel and getting a stress overload try some of these tricks to get you back on track. Also feel free to add your own solutions in the comments section there is no one right way to deal with stress some methods work better for some then others, so please share!

Happy and Healthy Travels!