Anxiety is a normal thing and can be found in anybody but the reasons can vary. Anxiety is affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year but it is said to be highly treatable. Traveling is always fun but have you thought about someone with TRAVELING ANXIETY, yes people are dealing with the issue for ages now.
SO IS TRAVEL ANXIETY A THING?
It is said that travel anxiety is a real thing and it causes people to feel a lot anxious or stressed before or while preparing for a trip. They find it difficult to participate or enjoy as the fear doesn’t allow them to open up and see the good things.
This type of phobia tends to develop during adulthood. It often results from a negative experience with traveling. You might also develop Hodophobia alongside other types of phobias, such as a fear of flying, or Aviophobia.
THE PANDEMIC BROUGHT IN MORE ANXIOUSNESS ABOUT TRAVELING :
Fear brings in all the difficulties more than it exists. The pandemic that brought along so many problems in professional and personal life also brought in the feeling of anxiety. People these days rarely think about stepping out of their house as the fear has taken a toll on each one’s life.
Traveling and travelers are probably living a completely different life after the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country. Fear and anxiety didn’t leave any of us but there’s always room for safe traveling and with all the precautions one can go through anything and everything.
It was prohibited to everyone in the country to go anywhere as the virus was/is spread worldwide and thus traveling anywhere can result in getting infected by the deadly disease. But we all have to move forward with courage or else we’ll have to lock ourselves forever in a room.
The country and government have made special provisions for the ones who love traveling and would want to move somewhere for family vacations, solo traveling, or even with friends. As they say, prevention is always better than cure so to save ourselves and others in our family or surrounding, we have to solemnly pledge to follow all the rules and regulations made for the travelers and make it a safe and happy traveling experience for each one of us.
Being anxious won’t help if you want to step out of your house so here are a few tips that might solve a few of the problems that would come along while traveling in this pandemic. They’re as follows:
1. Never remove your mask in crowded places: masks are as important as any other thing while traveling or we can say it’s the most important thing as it helps cover our nose and mouth which are the main parts that can transmit the virus from someone and infect you.
2. If possible book the seat next to you while traveling solo: this can anytime save your life and won’t even make you feel anxious about the person sitting next to you. If you plan to travel with a family member or friend then it’s fine but if not then it’s advisable to pre-book the seat next to you.
3. Maintain proper hygiene for yourself as well as the things you carry: yes it’s right to protect yourself from the virus but what if something gets along with the things you carry to your destination. Take no risks and carry a sanitizer spray that can protect you as well as can be used on the things you take for the trip.
4. Carry disposable things: masks, gloves, or any other thing that you take for your personal use make sure most of them are disposable as it helps to decrease the anxiousness one has while shaking hands, coming in contact with anybody, etc.
Mental anxiety can cause physical symptoms without you knowing about it. Stress is known to lead to a lot of diseases in the human body as per studies, so to keep the traveling anxiety at bay one should first learn to stay positive before planning any trip or stepping out to travel anywhere.
To tackle the problem of anxiety one can practice mindfulness before the trip and one can find some distractions which can help them forget about the anxiety even if that means for a while. Last but not least, meditation can be the biggest resort in such situations because it helps you to keep your mind calm and stress-free. Meditation in such cases can also give you a permanent solution to your problem/phobia.