After two years of staying at home, I was finally in the air again—literally. I was in an airplane heading to the Florida coast for some much-needed relaxation and recovery.
I was determined to squeeze everything into a small backpack. Towards the end of packing, I faced my final frontier: my wellness items, and deciding what to pack and what to leave.
I incorporate wellness into everyday activities. I have a powerful smoothie routine, and I take vitamins and exercise a few times a week. My skincare is a priority and I use vetted clean products religiously. I meditate almost every day and I journal at night to release what no longer serves me. When it comes to my diet, I lean toward organic well-balanced meals.
As I found myself in front of my tiny carry-on thinking there was no way I was going to bring smoothie ingredients, my yoga mat or my speciality toner from Moon Juice, I realized I needed to reframe my on-the-go wellness concepts.
I recalled the scene in one of the “Sex and the City” movies when Samantha has her supplements and hormonal pills confiscated in Abu Dhabi. She declares with dread that her whole body will fall apart without them. While I did not feel that level of devastation, I had become a bit too ritualized around my wellness routine. These items were to enhance my life, not weigh it down.
The idea is that we already harness the power to transform our life experiences into what we desire.
It is important to notice when rituals become crutches. With the idea of wellness being the goal, we don’t want to feel we are debilitated by any of the items we choose to facilitate this.
And then, something occurred to me—the idea of permission slips.
“Permission slip” is a phrase used in the healing community to denote an object or an action that allows the user to transform themselves via their experience.
This can be the act of yoga, intaking the energy of a crystal or meditating. You utilize something external to reach a preferred internal state. While taking these actions can produce results, the idea is that we already harness the power to transform our life experiences into what we desire.
Another way to conceptualize this is through the idea of placebo drugs. After receiving a placebo, the recipient is healed of their ailment, only later learning that there was no actual medicine given. The idea is that the patient simply allowed the healing to occur within themselves. The medicine they believed they took was in essence the permission slip they needed to allow their transformation.
We may feel debilitated if we don’t have our usual items with us while traveling. But if we remember instead that our wellspring of wellness lies within us, we realize that we are not bound to anything in order to feel good.
That being said, it is nice to find easy ways for lifestyle preferences to travel with you. Here are some of the ways I suggest being able to do that:
- Want to work out but not sure how to squeeze it in? Bring a jump rope. It fits in your bag and you can jump anywhere. Some say that 10 minutes of jumping is equivalent to running an 8-minute mile. (Sure feels that way sometimes!)
- Treat yourself like a plant. Make sure you get plenty of sunlight and drink a lot of water. Both of these actions cost nothing, and they’ll replenish and restore you better than any supplement.
- Take 15 to recharge every day. When we are traveling, taking time to meditate can be a challenge, especially if we are on everyone else’s schedules. But you can find the time in small ways, whether you escape to the shower and put on music to enhance the experience or give yourself extra time in the morning to sip tea on the hotel balcony. This battery recharge is wellness at its finest.
- Journal. If you don’t have a notebook with you, you can create a Typeform online with a few questions that you answer each day of your trip on your phone. It is an easy and effective way to release what no longer serves you.
- Food choices can be very challenging, especially when you are traveling with a child who wants to eat vacation food. Take a few high-quality protein bars with you so that you always have an option that is filling and nutritious. (But also don’t be afraid to have a treat. It is your time off, too.)
- Essential oils. Pack an essential oil to enliven your senses and instantly receive an emotional lift. Rose oil is very powerful for feeling nurtured and loved, peppermint helps you feel awake and lavender can help you feel relaxed. Take a drop in the center of each palm then rub your hands together, cup your nose and inhale.
These suggestions are fairly easy to implement and won’t weigh you down. The fact that you are putting the time and energy into caring for your wellness when you are on the road is proof that you are already living from within your own wellspring of wellness. Whatever comes of this invitation for self-care can only be an extension of the greatness you already contain.
To start simple, access a daily journal exercise while on the go at elizabethtuckwell.typeform.com/to/IouOCGxt.
