Believe or not, traveling is not just happiness and fun, well this is the big part, but it is also room for less happy moments such home-sickness, old memories that arose from the past and nostalgia.
It has happened to me, and I am sure it has happened to many of you traveling abroad for long period, being far from your home, your friends, family and loved ones.
But how to really cope with these moments? And how to make them positive and profit from them?
10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FIGHT NOSTALGIA
Indeed we are all very different, so the following tips might not work for everybody 100% but I am pretty sure that they will still cheer you up in sad moments and make it easier for you to carry on your adventures.
TIP NUM. 1: ACTIVATE YOUR BODY
Yes, when I feel down for something, most of all whilst I am traveling, I need to feel my body alive, active and strong. The best way for me to do this is to get on my gym outfits and off for an early morning run somewhere calm and tranquil where I can melt with the surrounding whilst my lungs are open to get in fresh air. I love to jog with my music on, to pump me up a little on the first part of the run and to chill on the latest part, but this is all up to you, as I know that many people would rather prefer to listen to the surrounding sound.
Whatever is a run, or cardio, workout, yoga: active your body, as nevertheless, you need to be generally active and healthy this will free your mind from negative vibes and soon after you will feel reinvigorated.
TIP NUM. 2: DANCE
This point is very connected to num 1. as you can dance to activate your body too. Every time I dance, I feel happier. As a matter of fact, as psychologist, Dr. Peter Lovatt said to “Telegraph”: “Dancing stimulates us physically and emotionally while there are also cognitive and social elements to it,” he explains.You appear to get a much bigger release of endorphin when you dance than during other forms of exercise; it also connects with the emotional centers in the brain. For many people, dancing prompts an emotional release – often that’s uncomplicated happiness, while for some it can make them cry. It’s cathartic – a letting goes of pent-up emotions.”
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/good-news/seven-seas/why-dancing-feels-good/
So, whether dance will make you laugh or cry, do it as it will liberate you and both way you will feel much better afterward. I was in Cali a few weeks ago, and I was down for something that happened to me. so I have decided to embrace the Caleno spirit of dancing and got into salsa’s class. You know what, it was so much fun that I doubled the hours and went dancing every night. But the best part was not even that, was that I felt strengthen-up and whatever was bothering me, went away.
TIP NUM. 3: EAT SOMETHING SPECIAL LIKE CHOCOLATE
I have come to a conclusion that when I am down and I eat something special to me, something that I really enjoy, this makes me feel better. To me is dark chocolate: I go banana when I have a good mouthful of the finest dark chocolate, most of all if washed down from a sip of good white fruity wine. Well, it is very well known that chocolate contains tryptophan in small portion, and this amino acid releases serotonin: which is a mood-lifter and decrease levels of both stress and pain. Of course, we all well known that the abuse of chocolate as every other food can be dangerous, so here I am just saying, try to eat something, not overeat, that you really like, something that reminds your childhood and happy moment. Even if you are following a diet, to have few bits of something that you like it won’t hurt you nor won’t spoil all your diet-efforts.
TIP NUM. 4: LISTEN TO LIVELY MUSIC
Well, it might sound lame, but it works: easy as a piece of cake, listening to lively music such dance music, rock if you like it, Latino music, it really helps to cheer you up. Listen to it and dance it!
TIP NUM. 5: DO SOMETHING UNUSUAL
I felt down few times lately and each time I felt the desire to do something different out of my comfort zone, to challenge me and to drive me away from negative thoughts. I recently did paragliding with Parapente Cali , and trust me this was not planned at all.. just good timing and right place and I went for it and guess what: nevertheless it was one of the best experience of my life to float in the air with my 23 years old driver.. but I straight away come back to my warrior-mood.
Now, you do not have necessarily do an adventure or extreme sport, it can be everything but something that you would not usually do. Go out of your comfort zone, this will also boost your confidence in life.
TIP NUM. 6: SPEAK UP YOUR MIND ON YOUR DIARY
Write down in your diary, a piece of paper whatever but not a laptop.. what do you feel. We live in a tech era and we spend hours behind a laptop or tablet or phone screen.. sometimes we need the old fashioned way to grab a pen and write down and go with the flow of our thoughts. You mind end up to write a song, a poem, a fantasy story or simply words… whatever it is read it out of loud when you finish. This will free your mind from negativity and it might give you room for a new hobby.. writing 🙂
TIP NUM. 7: PAMPER YOURSELF
I know that some of you can be on a very tight budget, and to the idea to pamper yourself with a treat is not the first of the list, but hey, it is not necessarily something super expensive what you can do. Most of all, if you are traveling through Asia or South America, to do something nice, won’t break the bank really. You can get a nice back massage on the local beauty center for less than 5 EURO in Asia, or you can dine out at a nice restaurant for less than 10 EURO in South America and so on. You can safe afterwards on something else when you are back to happiness 🙂 I know what does it mean, I am traveling myself with no income for 4 months now and I look after the economic side wisely, but we are traveling also for pleasure for experiencing happiness and this is also given from things that we like to do and pamper can be one of them, so few times a month I always try to do something like this that generally is a massage or a spa day, or enjoy a dinner out solo or with a friend in a nice restaurant or a concert. It all depends on your taste and the place where you are at.
TIP NUM. 8: TALK TO STRANGERS
It might sound crazy to go out and stop people to attempt a chat but it is something that it can work out very well. Just find the right way, if you are in a hostel this is probably the easiest scenario: go down on the common area and start with a “Good morning…hey how are you doing?…”. If you are on the street, get into a shop, talk with sale assistant or to a waiters in a bar.. it can be everywhere or anybody really, not saying to bother people who are walking, taste them with a soft chat at the beginning ( as not everybody can be free or bother to talk you back, true enough) and you will be surprised how people are open to getting to know other people sometimes with a nice and easy-going chat. You mind end up to talk about things that you never heard of, or to get to know someone very nice and hang out with, countless opportunity, and most of all you will forget that you were sad 🙂
TIP NUM 9. : AVOID TO SEND TEXT TO EX BOY-FRIENDS AND SUCH
We all know that over sad moments, it is very easy to grab a phone and keep sending messages to ex-boyfriends/ girl-friends or friends showing them our frustration. NOOOOOO !! please do not do that. It will make your mood worse and you will end up to worry people at home or worse to make them feel you are not strong enough. If you are someone who is easy-tempted by this, the first thing to do is to turn off your phone and do one of the above things. Only when you are calm and serene enough, it is good to text to friends and family back home, but in this case, you will send them only positive and happy messages about yourself and your abroad experience, what you have visited or a simple selfie with a big smile on!
TIP NUM. 10: COOK SOMETHING NEW
It cannot be possible for everybody, as you might not be somewhere with a kitchen access but if you do, then just get your hands dirty in the kitchen and cook something new! Yes, experiment, even if you never cook or if you think that you have not cooked skills, who cares?? in the end, you might find out that you are actually good, or you can start with something new but simple. I have noticed that cooking was driving me away from sadness on my 4 years ago relationship, where things with my ex-were going not that well and the frustration was frequently on the corner. So, meantime we were trying to figure out how to do or how to end our relationship (not going to talk about this now…lol) I would have gone in the kitchen cooking or baking something I never did before.. nevertheless the cooking itself would have made me feel much better and relax, but my belly was always very thankful 🙂
IN THE END…
As mentioned at the beginning, we are all different and with different character and desires and attitude, but we all need to try something to cheer us up if ever we feel down, most of all when we are far away from our home or people who love us. We need to stand up and tell ourselves our strong we are and prove it! This will proud yourself and you will feel amazed at the results, from what you are capable of.
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave your comments or message me in private for your tips on how to feel better over a nostalgia moment 🙂
Mari