Wanderlust in Quarantine: My Best Advice For Uncertain Times
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Because times may not be uncertain, but we have time itself, and with that, we have the opportunity to make of it any way we want.
How are you?
I know that as traveler souls, wanderlust-ers, however you combine travel and your identity, these uncertain times can really get you asking yourself: when will be the next time I get to experience the world up close? Hop on a plane, take a boat, or take a car and go somewhere?
I also understand that for many out there, with specific and personal situations, travel may have been something that has taken a seat in the back of your mind. Yet, it may still be a question you can’t help but wonder from time to time.
As we all know travel isn’t just travel, but a part of the freedom that has been shut off until further notice. However, that doesn’t mean that all is lost and that all types of travel is canceled. There are many forms of keeping your wanderlust satisfied, and keeping yourself in the curious state of mind, even in uncertain times.
I’ve written about more than a few ways of doing this, but I felt called to share some of my best tips inside one post (some of which I’ve never shared before) of the way to ease your mind, you control over certain things, keeping curious, and feeling ok with this pause on a mindset level.
Related: How To Tap Into The Feeling Of Travel – Manifest More Travel!
I do these myself, and I hope that it can alleviate a bit of worry, especially in the area of travel. And alleviating the stressful thoughts and worry in one area of your life, will definitely have the potential to alleviate other uncertainties in life as well. I believe that. It’s contagious that way 🙂
So without further ado, here is my best advice to consider as we live in these uncertain times of quarantine, but with a lot of potential for many other things to flourish.
In uncertain times; different times equal different ideas
The way I see it, there are things we’ve always wanted to do. However because of an endless amount of excuses, being busy, or not making the time for it, these ideas and “I wish I could’s” never happened. Why? Because they were things that we never made the time for.
I’d like to visually paint a picture for you. Let’s think of a garden, and this garden is representative of your mind. In times before the pandemic, our minds were the home of many different plants (representing your work, commitments, to-do’s, chores, etc.). Some people’s gardens had more plants than others, but there was always something living and growing in there.
The sun here will represent our mindset and routine. The thing needed in order to carry-on about our things and grow (in a variety of capacities).
Are you following? Good.
Now that we have entered this pandemic, it’s as if our sun has left. Our mindset that we previously had, our schedules, routines – all out the window. The plants we had growing became stagnant, or they died off completely.
However, in the death or stagnation of those plants, it allowed for other plants to sprout. Seeds perhaps from the other plants that flew away, and landed elsewhere to grow under different circumstances (maybe less sun and more shade). They’re starting to grow, in an environment in which they feel comfortable in (quarantine), and they’re flourishing into big, beautiful plants that you couldn’t have imagined (cultivated). How can it be possible? In a time with no “sunshine” and overall stagnation in growth?
It’s possible. Why? Because different plants need different seasons to sprout and flourish. Different ideas (plants) need different spaces (being home, in peace and quiet and time) to sprout and grow.
What’s the point of this metaphor I’m trying to explain? Previous plans that worked under the previous way of life were canceled or postponed. But that doesn’t mean it’s all over. This IS an opportunity to literally sow different plants and flowers (ideas and plans) in our mind (or maybe they’ll get sowed by themselves, such as an inspired idea that comes to you through meditation or simple thought). It’s time to allow and surrender. Think outside the box, and allow the time and space we are given to allow those other ideas (or plants) to grow into something that needs to come through us, at this time. Let’s allow those plants to grow ?
Travel can be and is a state of mind
In the current state of uncertainty in the air, I’ve repeatedly gone back to the practice of visualizing travel and allowing myself to imagine and feel what it would be like to travel right now. How? My secret to this process really starts with my travel mindset, and setting aside time and my attention to settle into a space of wanting to experience travel from home, in whichever way that manifests for me. And even if I can’t sit down and meditate, I try my best to surround myself with things and elements that remind me of travel such as a song, a movie playing in the background that I can glance at while I work, or diving into YouTube’s vortex and time-traveling down in history. Dr. Joe Dispenza says it best when he says personality creates your personal reality. If you make travel and curiosity part of your every day, even in short spurts, your reality starts to shift before you’ll be given the green light to travel safely. It, therefore, becomes a sort of default mindset you can certainly live in.
The mind and heart have a special way of communicating in a way that can literally change your personal reality. You can go from sitting on your couch in your afternoon loungewear to feeling like you’re living in the city of your dreams, and enjoying an afternoon inside a beautiful space, with your ideal weather, and ideal conditions. Our minds must create the intention and hold the vision (to be traveling to our dream destination). We then hold that image and connect it with the emotion of traveling/being in the places we desire to, all of which comes from the heart.
My best advice is to set time aside, practice the mind/heart connection in order to travel from home by visualizing and meditating on that vision and feeling. You’ve probably already know what it’s like to sit at a cafe in Rome and enjoy a cappuccino and cornetto as you people watch. You already know what the wet, compressed sand beneath your feel feels like, and the salty breeze caressing your face and body as you stretch your arms out, embracing the scene. Imagine, visualize, and feel it.
When this is all over, the universe may even reward you with a way of getting to your travel scene somehow solely based off of this activity.
Related: How I Manifested A Trip To Greece – And How You Can Do It Too!
Travel from home
If you’re a reader of TNAT, then you’ll know that around here I really love to share anything and all things traveling from home, and how actually access that.
A couple of weeks back I shared my best tips and tricks inside my private Facebook community on how to actually access travel-like vibes, and ways to trick your mind into thinking that you’re not having a coffee in your kitchen for the 3rd week in a row, but that you’re having a cafe con leche on the terrace of a cafe in Madrid.
The truth is that there are MULTIPLE resources available to us, especially now that we are in a pandemic, ironically. I can say this with all the confidence in the world because trust me when I say, I have been traveling from home FOR YEARS – starting back when I was starting college and I couldn’t just jet-set as often as I wanted to.
These days, we have museums such as the Louvre in Paris, the MoMA in New York, The Art Institute in Chicago at our virtual disposal. It’ not the absolute same thing as being there in person admiring the art, of course, but it’s still such a unique opportunity and luxury to live in a time where we can access this all from the comfort of our couch.
Additionally, there are free virtual walking tours and experiences being released by the day it seems, including a free virtual walking tour of Chicago – yes, as in there’s a time and place (online) to meet and have someone give you a tour of Chicago or a specific neighborhood in Chicago. There’s Airbnb who recently expanded their experiences into the virtual world, and now offers virtual activities stretching from cooking classes to getting into Tokyo’s anime subculture from a local.
Honestly, there’s SO much you can do for free to transport you to a feeling of travel. Some of my favorites are watching my favorite travel movies, listening to my favorite music that reminds me of travels that I like to play as I organize my closet for the 2nd time (?), and even check out YouTube channels with content that not only shows me travel but make me feel it too.
And because I love to make things easier for you, and I want you to still have travel feels as you’re quarantine-ing, I’ve made a cheat sheet with some REALLY cool website/museums, tours, YouTube channel recommendations, and even a resources to access virtual clubbing…yes you read that right, make sure to check out THIS link or down below, and get your FREE copy right now!
Travel reflections for a better experience tomorrow
I love combining travel and self-development in a way that can propel us into reflection and even more transformation. I am a firm believer that our travels are perceived by us in a way that is supposed to inspire ideas, movement, change, creation of something down the line. And maybe that’s not something we see immediately, but it’s something we can dive into and see what it has to share with us in our journey, especially now.
There are many reasons why people love to travel, and I just think that it’s because even if we aren’t looking for anything, we end up finding something on our travels. A new idea, perception, lifestyle, something that becomes a new favorite for us. Regardless of what it is, it’s something that I believe we were all meant to encounter on our trips, and it’s something that needs that time and space to uncover. Take this time to look back at those photos, those crazy “what-if” moments you had, those potential realities and feelings. They’re here to teach you something. The revelation of it can be the stepping stone towards something bigger, a bigger plan, a greater awakening.
This is actually the premise for my first program, The Traveler Soul Creative. An opportunity to really look back, and just ask yourself “what just happened?” “What did I experience, why do I feel the way I do, and what have I learned?” – we often times skip this part of the travel experience, and go straight into our routines and trying to snap back into society upon re-entering home. So, take this time to relive those travel moments, and see what they have to tell you about what you can be doing now, and going forward.
If this is something you’d like to explore more, you can check out this link to receive information on when the program opens up for the second round!
Feel all the feels
Give yourself permission to be sad for a whole day, be ok with being happy in the uncertain times even if there are others that are unfortunately having a harder time; honor your feelings.
For those of you still maintaining a 9-5-ish work-from-home lifestyle, set an hour to yourself to check in on yourself and your mental and emotional state. This may just be me, but I sometimes feel a sort of guilt for complaining or showing any kind of emotion due to exhaustion (working from home is not an easy task when everyone is home) or frustration for the state of everything going on.
So if there’s something big I have learned and started doing, it’s taking the time to meditate, journal a bit if you can, and just relax a bit. At least for an hour. Our emotions should be expressed in healthy ways, and they need the time to really ride out this uncertain time.
Nature
Nothing really beats a walk in nature or even just in your neighborhood (if you’re allowed to, of course). There’s just something about nature that not only obviously gets you outside of your house, but also out of constant circles of thoughts of uncertainty, unpleasant emotions, and restores certain happiness back to us. So if you can, please take a walk.
One of my absolute favorite things to do while I take a walk, whether it’s outdoors in the summer or in the dead of winter inside on the treadmill, is that I like to pop in a walking meditation the amazing Mimi Method program. I cannot recommend it enough, and if you’re wondering “how amazing can these meditations be?” I mean, they really are amazing and worth the subscription. Buuut don’t take my word for it, check out her entire library for a 7 day free trial, and see just how you end up on the other side of these amazing meditation sessions.
Remaining alert but not anxious
I’m totally borrowing this one from Dr. Mike because it’s the truth. It’s obviously important to keep updated with the most recent news regarding the uncertain times we live in as they affect various parts of our lives. However, I think it’s important to relay this message for those that may not know – Be alert, not anxious, and monitor your consumption of the news.
In uncertain times like these, and when news is getting updated constantly, sometimes we may end up gravitating subconsciously towards turning on the news or googling updates on the pandemic. So with this being said, I just want to be a reminder to you to be conscious of your news consumption, be alert, not anxious, and take it one day at a time. If a big update is shared, you will know regardless of if you have the news playing in your home 24/7 or not.
Surrendering and being present in uncertain times
If there’s something I’ve really learned the past couple of weeks, it’s been to surrender and be present with what’s actually happening now. I used to be one of those people that was always thinking too far in the future to really notice what was happening now. Always worrying about things that haven’t even happened yet, and probably wouldn’t come true in the way I worried about.
As the days start to blend, we don’t know what we did the day before, we don’t know what day we are living, and we don’t know what tomorrow will bring – it’s overall shown me that what we truly have is the present moment, and that’s it. Time is actually an illusion.
This realization, I hope, can also make you feel a similar sense of peace knowing truly where our focus should be in, and that is to do what feels best now, accept this time as a pause in our busy lives, take this time to do the things that you’ve always wanted to do (if you feel called to) – allow for different plants to grow in your garden ?
To more self-discovery moments like these,
P.S. make sure to download you FREE cheat sheet with a compiled list of places to be and things to see virtually all over the world. Just leave me your email so I can send it to you! 🙂
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