A reader asked me to do a follow up post on my trip to Miami. I have gotten this request in the past so here I go:I am really glad that I went even though it wasn't the easiest thing in the world.
To be honest, the worst my anxiety got was before we even went on the trip. The anticipatory anxiety, or dreading what was to come, had me so nervous about all the "what ifs" that could happen. For about a week I could tell my anxiety was heightened and I did some extra things to try to keep things in perspective. I did some yoga and I prepared for the trip in my last post to help me work all those "what ifs" out. I also made sure I had plenty of medication just in case.
I was really worried about the 4+ hour plane ride. We read up on the airline's website what to expect when traveling with a baby so the extra security to check her bottles wasn't a suprise and the security was extremely quick and smooth. We still went in expecting the worst to happen, which comes second nature to a habitual worrier. However, we were pleasantly surprised at how well the whole airport and flight experience went. And any rocky parts that occured were manageable. It could have been much worse. I would much rather be pleasantly surprised then constantly disappointed from high expectations.
During the week we made a point to keep things low key. My husband's brother was showing us around and he wanted to jam pack every day with lots of stuff. But I knew that overscheduling the days wasn't a good idea for me. We made sure that we had plenty of time to just hang out at the pool and beach and relax with a few fun activities each day.
My anniversary gift was to swim with dolphins at the Aquarium
My husband went on some scuba dives with his brother, we went to the Aquarium, we toured the Everglades
and walked around the South Beach area shops. But we didn't overplan it because the more I am expected to do on a trip, the more nervous I get about ruining the trip.
It helped that we had to go back to our hotel anyway so the Little could take a nap. When she napped I went and lounged at the pool and beach area. It was really nice and relaxing.
I am learning that just because I have had really bad anxiety on trips in the past, that doesn't mean that I am bound to have it on all trips. But I know that preparing anyways is important.
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I am really glad that I went even though it wasn't the easiest thing in the world.
To be honest, the worst my anxiety got was before we even went on the trip. The anticipatory anxiety, or dreading what was to come, had me so nervous about all the "what ifs" that could happen. For about a week I could tell my anxiety was heightened and I did some extra things to try to keep things in perspective. I did some yoga and I prepared for the trip in my last post to help me work all those "what ifs" out. I also made sure I had plenty of medication just in case.
I was really worried about the 4+ hour plane ride. We read up on the airline's website what to expect when traveling with a baby so the extra security to check her bottles wasn't a suprise and the security was extremely quick and smooth. We still went in expecting the worst to happen, which comes second nature to a habitual worrier. However, we were pleasantly surprised at how well the whole airport and flight experience went. And any rocky parts that occured were manageable. It could have been much worse. I would much rather be pleasantly surprised then constantly disappointed from high expectations.
During the week we made a point to keep things low key. My husband's brother was showing us around and he wanted to jam pack every day with lots of stuff. But I knew that overscheduling the days wasn't a good idea for me. We made sure that we had plenty of time to just hang out at the pool and beach and relax with a few fun activities each day.
My anniversary gift was to swim with dolphins at the Aquarium
My husband went on some scuba dives with his brother, we went to the Aquarium, we toured the Everglades
and walked around the South Beach area shops. But we didn't overplan it because the more I am expected to do on a trip, the more nervous I get about ruining the trip.
It helped that we had to go back to our hotel anyway so the Little could take a nap. When she napped I went and lounged at the pool and beach area. It was really nice and relaxing.
I am learning that just because I have had really bad anxiety on trips in the past, that doesn't mean that I am bound to have it on all trips. But I know that preparing anyways is important.
If you enjoyed this post Get the Reality of Anxietyvia RSS or Email