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I do a lot of traveling for business and pleasure. I am spending a TON of time on planes these days racking up the frequent flyer miles! We own a beach house in San Diego county now, so in addition to business travel and all the cool trips doTERRA takes us on, we are flying down there quite often as well now.
On the business side, I love spending time face-to-face with my leaders so I often fly out to visit them from my home in Boulder, CO to their hometowns across the big Atlantic pond or the Pacific sea. Not to mention the conferences and fun events I’ve been attending all over my own country! Planes, trains, and automobiles.
By the time you read this, I’ll just be returning from eight days in Europe, including stops in Romania, the Netherlands, and the U.K. It turned out to be an awesome trip, however, I have to admit, the days leading into it were agonizing.
You might wonder why. Travel should come easily to a seasoned globetrotter like me, shouldn’t it? Well….
I’ll just come right out and say it. Long trips stress me out.
Even though I am super organized and really have my act together weeks before a trip, and I have an amazing support team that helps me prepare, I get nervous. Yes, even me. I really have to pay attention to what I am creating in my mind or anxiety sets in.
Like when I travel to a foreign country, even though it might not make sense, I’m afraid my phone won’t work. And what if I can’t log onto the Internet? Google maps? Connecting with the people I’m there to see? Checking in on my virtual back office?
I often feel lost without the ability to communicate. So I have to watch my thoughts otherwise I stress way in advance about things like this.
What if I miss my flight?
What if the airline loses my luggage?
What about my driver? Can I trust him?
What if I can’t find things I want to eat?
What if I can’t adjust to the time zone and I’m exhausted?
What if my American sense of humor doesn’t translate across cultures?
It’s not the circumstances that are making me stress out. They don’t even exist. It’s what my mind is doing that drives me friggin’ batty. Yes, it’s the thoughts I’m creating about my circumstances.
This happens all the time, so on this last trip, I decided I was going to be in control of my thoughts before they pushed me somewhere I didn’t want to go.
So what did I do? I changed my thoughts around the experiences I was telling myself I was going to have. I knew that I could create whatever experience I wanted.
Makes sense, right?
The first thing I did was stop coming down so hard on myself for being concerned. I am allowed to get nervous, just like anybody else. With all the stuff going on in my business right now, traveling just adds another element to the mix.
My new thoughts:
I’m going to be a little nervous when traveling. I’ll just watch it unfold.
I’ve taken care of all the details of my trip and set up safety nets in case of emergency. (Like, having my assistant email all information to me in case I can’t download it when I get where I am going.)
I will get through customs just fine.
No, they won’t take my essential oils in customs.
Its okay if I eat eight rolls on the plane because I hate the food.
Its okay if I watch three movies instead of trying to sleep. I’m going to be exhausted no matter what.
I can always buy new clothes if my luggage is delayed. (BUMMER)
I know exactly where I am supposed to go when I land. I am safe and secure and ready to have fun.
I’ve planned for comfortable travel time between destinations so if a situation comes up that delays me, I’ll have plenty of time to get where I am going.
What experiences are you creating with your thoughts? Pay attention to the thoughts you’re having and if they aren’t leading where you want to go, decide to have new thoughts.
Yep, that simple.