The Anxious Enthusiast Travels
The 4 Commitments That Alleviate Pre-Travel Packing Anxiety
Packing panic is real. I’ve had to accept that travel anxiety extends into the before and the after. For a better before, I commit to these four things.
I commit to making a list
Making a list is the easy part for me. I freaking love making lists. I make at least one list a day. I use Medium as an excuse to make more lists. For some, making a list is like tooth pain. I’m not there, but I do know something about tooth pain.
The packing list is a way to organize my mind. It allows me to view my travels before they happen in the context of what I need to survive and what I’d like to bring and/or wear along with me.
It is both a “to-pack list” and later, a suitcase inventory. If I write a list, I don’t need to worry about what I’ve remembered to pack. If I cross off or highlight the items as I put them in my suitcase, I know what is in that bag. It’s a win-win.
Remembering is difficult at the best of times. Pre-travel, packing anxiety is not the best of times. Enter, the list.
I commit to kindness and supportive responses to my critical voice
Packing is a lot. It addles me. I used to cry every time. Packing is hard. Not just because it requires organization, time management, and attention to detail. It’s hard because no matter how much I love travel, I still get nervous to leave home.
It’s hard because I have trauma that triggers when I go to pack a suitcase.
It’s hard because I’m a recovering perfectionist and I feel like if I forget something, I’ve failed someone and that someone is me. I hate disappointing myself.
Commitment to responding to my critical voice — which is always there and gets worse when I’m anxious — with kindness is perhaps the greatest of all of these. Unfortunately, I am the worst at it. It hasn’t become easy yet. I practice, but it only becomes less objectionable in moments of great need.
I await the day when it’s a reflex. Until that day comes, I will commit to the practice of responding to my fear with love and support, even and especially when I am packing for a fabulous excursion to a faraway place.
I commit to a pre-set routine
Pre. Set. Means before. Not during, before. The anti-anxiety packing routine is great for two reasons.
- It sets a date for my pre-travel anxiety. If I set a routine for packing that takes a decent chunk of one day (including laundry), that means that if I become anxious about leaving or packing or traveling before my scheduled packing day I can honor my nerves and also tell them that worrying is scheduled. It’s part of my routine, but it’s not time for that yet. I have it blocked in. I don’t have to be worried now. I can be if I need to be, but I don’t have to if I don’t want to. As silly as this sounds, it works sometimes. Dammit if it doesn’t work often.
- It gives me a framework for success. I do love a good list, but I like making lists more than I like following them. The only thing I like more than both of those things is marking things off of lists. It’s a catch-22. In order to mark things off of my routine, I need to do the things on the list. This compulsion of mine gets me started. It provides initiation energy and catalyzes the process at once. I’m almost mad writing this at how well it works because I don’t like to be muscled into doing things I don’t like. I do like having my bags packed, though. For imminent travel and because pizza.
I commit to celebration
My partner and I started celebrating the end of packing with pizza. We sit on the couch and drink wine together. It’s a reason to push through packing. It’s a toast for what’s to come. It’s also grounding for me.
It feels like landing and mindfulness. I forget the feeling of lostness and the torments of my anxiety while my cup is being filled.
As we sit together and the bottle empties, I find within myself a voice that says: Everything’s gonna be alright.
This is what I mean by celebration. I commit to doing what it takes to recharge for travel, the experience, and the adventure to come.
Cheers!
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