This post offers 8 practical tips to deal with depression while traveling. These are my notes after many road trips traveling abroad while struggling with mental health, anxiety and depression. This guide is designed for optimal self-compassion, slowing down, and returning to a place of simple joy.
As I write this post, I’m in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. I’m tucked away in a charming cottage, surrounded by pastures, alpacas, and a little lamb that pokes her nose in my window to ask for food.
It’s utopia and I have nothing to complain about. Except that I woke up this morning and couldn’t get out of bed.
I felt hollow. Exhausted. Hopeless. Fraudulent since I’d been sharing all my epic adventures on my Instagram Stories, flaunting how great my life is.
Sigh.
This isn’t my first rodeo. I know how my body cycles through a dramatic change in routine. First, there’s euphoria. Then there’s a grind where I still feel okay but my self-care routine begins to crumble. Then… depression.
So this morning, I had to return to my notes after years of traveling for my best practical tips to deal with depression while traveling. And I figured I’d share it with you because I know I’m not alone.
Related
- Naked and Laughing Hysterically on a Beach in New Zealand
- How to manage anxiety while traveling: 12 steps for the anxious traveler
- Why Slow Travel is Essential for Your Wellbeing and Mental Health
- Crying at the Mountains in Wanaka, New Zealand
- Violent Food Poisoning at Church in the Mountains of Lebanon
Boring disclaimer: I’m not a mental health professional and nothing in this post should be taken as medical advice. Please talk to a healthcare professional if you have concerns about your mental health. These are my own coping mechanisms after years of self-reconciliation and travel.
Traveling with depression: travel’s tricky relationship with mental health
Travel and mental health are a tricky combination. In a way, travel is a form of escapism. We think our problems will fade if we just remove ourselves from our lives. But everywhere I go, there I am. The same me, with the same ruminations, the same anxieties.
A more accurate statement is that travel facilitates growth. And growth is painful. Confronting.
Travel disrupts routine and invites stressors. Sensory overload can trigger the system. And for highly sensitive people or those who struggle with mental health, travel can lead to depressive symptoms. Fatigue, overwhelm, anhedonia, insomnia, loss of appetite.
Although this feels horrible (as I do right now), it’s important to talk about. Depression while traveling is more common than we think. And it is possible to return to a place of joy so you can go back to enjoying your trip.
Taken straight out of my travel notes, here are 8 practical tips on how to deal with depression while traveling.
8 practical tips to deal with depression and manage mental health while traveling: notes from the road
1. Set an intention before your trip: keep yourself accountable
If you know you’re prone to depression while traveling, it’s important to prepare beforehand. Recently, I started setting an intention before every trip. I write a simple statement as a reminder of what’s truly important. And I go back to it again and again throughout the trip.
For example, my intention for this trip was:
“To slow down and take deep breaths. To exercise radical acceptance of everything that unfolds.”
This is a great one for me because I know travel always brings surprises which I tend to resist. So when I realized I forgot my hairbrush (a crucial tool for someone with so much hair), I remembered radical acceptance. When the weather changed from blue sky to tropical rainfall… radical acceptance. When a rogue stone caused a crack in our windshield… radical acceptance.
This isn’t a simple shrug to dissociate from the challenges of travel. It’s hard work that involves sitting with uncomfortable emotions, meditating, journaling, implementing self-care.
Travel, just like life, isn’t always bliss. We have to be accountable for our emotions, to process and reconcile. We just get to do it in a prettier place.
2. Depression while traveling is more common than you think: be kind to yourself
When depression hits while traveling, it’s compounded by the thought “I’m not meant to feel this way”. When I woke up in my state this morning, I knew the pit in my stomach was all wrong. The lack of motivation for such a lovely morning was all wrong. The desire to do nothing was wrong, wrong, wrong.
As you can image, this doesn’t help. Depression while traveling is more common than we think. And we need more people talking about it.
The first step to feeling better is to be kind to yourself. Sit for a moment. Acknowledge that this is how you feel. Generate self-compassion and self-love. Take your time with this. These are balms for the aching soul.
3. Get warm and cozy
Whether I’m in the mountains or on tropical beaches, getting warm goes a long way in comforting my body. When I woke this morning, the mountain chill had cooled my little cottage right down. I cuddled in bed for awhile, then I donned my favorite cotton pants and a big cozy jumper.
I still felt like shit… but now I was comfortable. And I could think a little clearer.
As you move gently with yourself, find ways to get comfy cozy and warm. It’s good to plan ahead and bring the things that bring you comfort, like your favorite jumper, scarf, or fuzzy socks. It’s a simple act of self-care to signal to your inner sad child that you’re safe, you’re in control, and perfectly capable of handling this.
And you are capable. Feed your inner child with love and compassion as you sip a cup of tea or coffee. Light the fireplace. Sit in the sun. You’ve got this.
4. Return to basic self-care
After two decades of depression and anxiety, I pride myself on a robust self-care routine. One of my early warning signs that depression is about to hit is when that routine begins to crumble.
A misconception that really grinds my gears is that vacation = as much self-indulgence as possible. Eating and drinking whatever and however much you want. An irregular sleep schedule. Total disregard for daily responsibilities and healthy habits.
As someone prone to anxiety and depression, I can’t afford all these guilty pleasures, nor do I want to. But I can’t deny I do get swept away by the romanticism of travel. For example, the last few days of travel, I stopped doing daily meditation. I kept my healthy eating habits but I’m not doing as much yoga as I should, though I’m lugging my mat around everywhere.
And last night, taking a shower and brushing my teeth took more effort than normal. That should’ve been my first clue.
While travel should allow some self-indulgence, we have to upkeep our healthy habits. Here’s a helpful article on eating well and staying active while traveling. If you’re experiencing depression on your travels, return to basic self-care, whatever that might mean for you.
Take a long shower. Go for a run. Do some journaling or eat a healthy meal. Set small goals and nurture feelings of accomplishment when you meet them.
Top tip: always travel with savings so you can remove yourself from uncomfortable situations if needed. Having the option to book a nice hotel or a massage goes a long way for peace of mind.
5. Tell someone you trust
After wallowing in bed this morning, I turned to my partner and straight-up told him: “I’m depressed.” Having traveled together for the last four years, he’s well seasoned in managing my mental state.
There’s nothing worse than feeling like shit and keeping it to yourself. Telling someone you trust helps. If you’re traveling solo, call someone back home. Reach out to your therapist if you have one.
Connection is key when we’re feeling down. It’s important to emerge from our bubble, talk to people, and humanize the situation. Hell, your travel buddies might be depressed too.
I personally love talking about mental health, though I understand it can be uncomfortable. It helps to remember everyone struggles with mental health. Being joyful every day is not normal. Everyone suffers from their own recipe of problems.
Talking about it should be normalized.
6. Have a digital detox
I realize this is hypocritical as I sit here writing a blog post, but I find a digital detox is key to all my ailments.
Managing Instagram, my blog, commissioned work, and other projects is… overwhelming. And you don’t even need to have an online business to experience screen overload. Especially on the road, where we feel the need to film everything and share it online with friends and strangers.
Being online, checking notifications, and feeling the constant pressure to put out content is not good for mental health. This isn’t news.
If you’re feeling depressed while traveling, a digital detox is a good idea to slow down and immerse in your surroundings. Focus on your current experience, and know that you can always share about it later. Rest your eyes, your brain, and your spirit.
7. Do what you want to do
I don’t know about you but I have weird voices in my head when traveling about the things I should be doing and seeing. This usually stems from what I saw on Instagram or other people’s blogs, creating a checklist of to-dos so I can feel like I adequately experienced a locale.
This is… ridiculous. Travel is about rejuvenating the spirit, not adhering to a predetermined itinerary of banal things.
When depression hits while traveling, it’s important to stop and reassess. What do you actually want to do? Listen to your body. What does it need? If it’s to blob out on the beach, go do that. If it’s to go shopping, then do that. Or stay in bed all day, that’s fine too.
In a world flying at full speed, it takes a minute to sit still and listen to what our mind and body tell us.
I just took a break while writing this to have a good listen to my poor exhausted body. It said it wants a gorgeous Buddha bowl and a drive around the lake. Without my phone or my camera.
So I’m gonna go and fucking do that.
8. Return to nature
My top advice always, no matter where you are or what you’re doing… return to nature.
I’ve written about this a lot. We are creatures of nature. It’s where everything started. And our mental health is intrinsically linked to the natural world. Many studies have shown that time spent in nature improves physical and mental health.
Nature offers the ultimate lesson in stillness and quiet. Great mountain beasts and old forests that have stood the test of time always gives me perspective. Shrinks my problems.
Our earth is much, much older than we are. This sense of feeling small dissolves the ego to make room for peace.
Go into nature and sit still. Observe the birds flitting from grass to tree. Watch the bees pollinate flowers. Listen to rustling leaves. Put your feet in the river. Come back to your senses.
Having to deal with depression while traveling can be rough but I hope these 8 practical tips give you some comfort. Remember that you’re not alone. You’ve totally got this. And I’m always open for a chat.
Go gently. Much love,
P
