5 Tips To Enjoy Holiday Travel

Hey beautiful people, thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I love this time of year. It is currently, let's see, what is today's date, as I'm recording this. I think December 5th.

I don't like winter. I don't like the cold. I like snow around Christmas time. That's about it. Once January rolls around, I want everything to melt, and I want it to be 75 degrees. But regardless, I do love this time of year. I know it's a struggle for a lot of you. There are so many expectations, so many people to see, so many things to bring us out of our comfort zone. But there is a way to get through this. And if you haven't yet, if you're new here, go back and listen to my episodes around triggers, cause those will be very helpful in this holiday season.

I am so blessed because my family and I are gonna be spending Christmas at Disney World. And another bonus is, we're gonna be there for my youngest daughter's birthday. She turns 5 on December 27th and it's just going to be so much fun. I'm looking forward to it.

The honest truth is, this was not always the case for me years ago. Travel was very hard. It made me stressed out because I knew I wouldn’t have control over the food. Basically just losing control was problematic. I think that's one of the main things with an eating disorder: we want that control. We want to be able to control every situation. Spontaneity is not appreciated. It's rather boring, but it's safe, right? But like I said, that was then, so many years ago, I felt that way.

I can still have moments now. There are still moments that can be kind of tricky. But for the most part, I look forward to traveling. I've always loved traveling, even though it brought out a lot of anxiety in me around food and exercise. It was always like, well, what am I gonna eat? How am I gonna control what I eat? When am I gonna exercise? And I was really losing the joy and what the purpose of the trip was. I wasn't getting everything out of it, cause I was focused on the wrong things.

I want to help you focus on the right things. I want to share 5 ways to make your holiday travel more enjoyable. That is what I'm going to talk to you about today. 

5 ways to make your holiday travel more enjoyable.

The first one is to shift your expectations around food. We know that we won't have control over what is available while we're traveling. So before you leave, get your mindset right. Talk to yourself about it. Tell yourself that you know things are gonna be different for a certain number of days, and that's gonna be OKAY. You know that you're gonna eat differently. What is available for you will not always be your first choice. But you can handle that.

I think the main thing is setting yourself up for that expectation. Remove the expectation that you are gonna be able to control everything. Don’t fall into thoughts like, “I'm only putting this in my body. I'm only gonna eat if this is available.” You can't do that. You need to shift your expectations around food.

The second thing is, plan for movement. And remember, it won't be the same you usually do, and that's OK. Once again, you can see a pattern here. When we step out of our comfort zone, when we are required to have spontaneity, that can be very challenging and can ignite a lot of anxiety for those with eating disorders. Just going with the flow. 

You still need movement/exercise. I have never been one to say that exercise is the root of all evil. You will never hear me say, you shouldn't be exercising. You’ll never hear me say just focus on eating and not moving your body. I'm never gonna say that. You're never gonna hear that for me. Movement is important for so many reasons. Exercise is important for so many reasons.

For one, your mind. If you’re supposed to be shifting your mindset, you have to have the mind that can handle that. And we have to be helping our minds by moving. So whether that’s going for a walk. Wherever you’re going be prepared. Find a walking route. I’ll use Disney World as an example. We do a lot of walking when we visit Disney. I know that I'm going to be putting in a lot of steps. I’m not going to put pressure on myself to do a scheduled per se workout. I'm doing little quotations here.

Years ago, I would have, I would have taken the workout shoes and everything. And I would have made myself exercise. Get that workout in because, you know, walking just isn't enough. That was my mindset. It wasn't enough to earn or deserve the food I was eating there. 

We have to plan for movement. We have to shift our expectations.

The third thing is to have support in place. If you can, the optimal way here is to have someone to talk to when you feel those spiraling thoughts creeping in. It's just nice to have that person because you're in a situation already that’s a little testing because you're out of your comfort zone. You're out of your norm. It’s OK to need that extra support. So if you have a friend or a family member, it doesn't even have to be someone that's there with you. You can call a friend. If you're at someone's house this Christmas and something is really making you feel down, go to a quiet corner and call a friend. Go for a walk and call a friend. Someone you trust. It's one of those things where that outside person can reprioritize what is happening and kind of bring logic into the situation.

I always use my husband. He's my support. So if for some reason, all of a sudden, down at Disney, I'm just thinking, ohh, good grief. I'm starting to feel panicked. I’ve had cookies and ice cream and we're eating sausage and at all of these buffets. All this wonderful, delicious food. But Heaven forbid, I just enjoy it. No, I have to be miserable about it. So I will bring that up to him, and he'll say, “hey, you're gonna be OK. This is for a few days. What you do over the few days is not going to undo the rest of your life. It's impossible. It's impossible that what you're doing over these few days is gonna somehow become a habit, become the norm. And it's kind of funny then, because it's like, yeah, you're right. There's no way I'm gonna go home and just continue this eating train, this marathon of food. That leads into my next point.

#4 is, it's temporary. The situation you're in, where you are visiting, if it's a family member's house, if you're flying somewhere, it is temporary. It's only gonna be for a certain number of days. A handful of days. This leads into #5.

Because it's temporary, #5 is, soak up each moment. Mentally be there rather than living in an anxious mind. So often we miss our lives. I really feel like when I was in the thick of my eating disorder, I think of all that was wasted. All the time that I spent thinking and living in my head. I know so many of you do it. If you have an eating disorder, you're in your head 24/7. And it's not nice. It's not nice thinking. It's abusive. And you're missing out on what's going on around you.

So I have a pact. I have a pact with myself that when I'm down at Disney World with my family these are memories. This is magic. These are memories for the rest of my life and the rest of my daughter's lives. This is precious time. You better believe I'm gonna do everything in my power to get out of my head and be in the moment with them. To watch them in living joy. With them it's always the simplest little things too. Watching them holding hands, walking, laughing and actually laughing with them. Like, not just playing along, like laughing with them and just being there with them, soaking up the moment.

Can you do the same for yourself, friend? Can you promise me that this holiday season you will set yourself up in a way that it won't be time wasted? That it'll be memories made? Memories you want to think back on and remember.

If you need to jot these down, step one, you're going to shift your expectations around food. Step 2, you're going to plan for movement, and it's going to be something you can incorporate someone else in. Invite someone else along because then you can go right into step three. You could be walking with someone supportive, and you can just tell them how you're feeling. And they can be that support for you. Speak some life into you. Speak some truth over you and snap you back into the belief that you need to get out of your head. You need to start living and absorbing and interacting with those around you. You’re missing out. You don’t want to miss out. Have your support in place.

#4, know it's temporary. That's one of the biggest things I always tell myself, this is not forever. You can do this for 10 days, two days, three days, whatever, it could be for the month. I don't know. It seems like a long time, but you can do this.

#5 is, soak up each moment. Please soak up each moment. It'll feel so good. And then when you do, it's something that is a critical step in the healing process, I think, where you start feeling alive when you're soaking up those moments 'cause so often we lose those pieces of ourselves. That joy and that passion. We lose it. So if you can find a way to be present and soak up the moment with those around you and whatever you're doing this holiday season, it will give you life. OK friend. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I cannot wait to talk to you next week. Bye.