Hey everybody, welcome back. I want to help you master the art of travel with four big ideas. I’m Dr. Drew Ramsey. I’m a board certified psychiatrist. I’m a frequent traveler and I talk to lots of people about traveling. What works? What doesn’t? We all know travel can be chaos, but we always want to travel in balance, arrive in balance, calm, well nourished, well hydrated. I’m going to tell you, this is how I do it. This is how I help my patients do it.
Engage in the Psycho-Spiritual Experience of Travel
Number one, engage in the psycho spiritual experience of travel. Yeah, that’s right. When we take ourselves out on the road, big things happen. You’re out there thinking all kinds of big existential thoughts. Where are you? You’re in a new environment and thinking, how’s this compared to where I live? You’re often going to see friends, family and have new experience and it’s a really important time to step away from getting all that chaos that can happen in travel and step into all the power that you have to receive, to absorb, to observe all of these changes.
It is a huge dopamine rush when we’re traveling. Part of it is being around this group of people as we’re all moving, we’re all having a little anticipatory anxiety, thinking about what’s going to happen while dealing with that big energetic shift, getting on the plane, getting ready, taking off, landing. Again, it brings up so much, but not if you’re just stewing in that anxiety of chaotic travel. So this is where I want you all to try and settle down and be ready to receive some of the important, meaningful messages that you’re going to get while you’re traveling. I love to be sitting and sometimes listening to a favorite album and just watching the world go by, but tap in. It’s really important information.
Be a Brain Food Traveler
Number two, be a brain food traveler. There are no excuses these days. Everything is in the airport, sushi, kombucha, ramen, all your favorite foods, keto, paleo, vegan, you name it, it’s there. And wow, it’s amazing and it makes travel such a wonderful opportunity for us to really use the rules of nutritional psychiatry. It is so important for you to get in the mindset. This isn’t just about your well-stocked home where we have everything we want, all the brain foods. This is about these principles and values that we live by that help us nourish our brain and our mental health. So what do I do while I travel? Well, a couple of things.
One, I’ve always got my raw unsalted nuts, almonds, cashews, maybe walnuts in my bag. Those are always a go-to. think number two is making sure to have that flask for good hydration. There are so many temptations in the airport. And what do I do if I get tempted. Well, I go on a kombucha quest because there’s so much kombucha in airports but it can be hard to find. And with so many alcohol options, so many great beer halls and cocktails and just all right there often in the middle of the hallway, it can be really tempting to engage in a lot of drinking while you’re traveling. Of course, that’s a choice, but it makes all these other goals harder, right? It’s hard to stay hydrated. It’s hard to stay upbeat and positive. It’s hard to engage in the psycho spiritual journey when you’re drinking a lot. So watch the alcohol.
Another few tips I love, you’ll see in lot of airports this brand Farmer’s Fridge. I absolutely love it. There are lots of fresh, delicious, organic, wholesome snacks, and salads. I love their pineapple vanilla chia pudding. It’s probably one of the best I’ve ever had. Look for those. It’s a great option if you are feeling hungry.
Another tip is some of you are great at packing snacks, you’re going to bring some crudités, some raw vegetables with you, you’re going to bring some manchego, some cheese slices, you have a little dark chocolate and raw nuts in your bag. That’s awesome. Others, you’re not going to do that. And it’s really important to set up what is kind of on your list of great airport food and what isn’t. A couple of my other tips. I love going to a local Mexican place. A lot of times those are in airports and it’s a great time to get a good rice and bean meal, make it even better with a little guacamole, get some plants, get some fiber, get some delicious flavors usually. And it’s one of the more affordable options in the airport.
Those are some of my brain food traveler tips, but I think one of my main ones is again, I don’t think there’s any excuses. Not that you should be overly stressed out about this, but you should feel empowered as a traveler. That you don’t have to rely on airplane foods or airplane snacks that you can do it. The airport is well stocked, your grocery store is well stocked, and that you have the knowledge and really the power to feed yourself well and arrive well nourished, feeling great, not stressed out.
Airport Step Count
Number three is airport step count. When you are in motion, when you are on a journey, your body loves to get a lot of steps. It’s a way that we process a lot of feelings. It’s the way that we keep our brains growing by releasing all those myokines. Check out my video on that, but these are brain growth factors that our muscles release.
It may be helpful to explore the airport. I love to go on my kombucha quest as part of my step count. The way I do it is when I land, if I have a layover and I check out my step count, I go find my gate and I kind of try and set a goal. And then I go on one of these quests. Maybe I’m going to check out a store, maybe I’m going for a little kombucha, maybe I’m going to find the great local Mexican.
Again, such an important aspect of travel to keep ourselves healthy, to keep yourself alert, to really get on that psycho-spiritual journey. Think about how often that in history, we’ve just sort of seen that big feelings, neurotic feelings, anxious feelings, we deal with them by moving our bodies and by walking. So again, huge opportunity to do that in the airport.
Last little tip on that, I love to have a backpack. I try to kind of pack minimally if I can, maybe have 15 or 20 pounds. And if your body’s up for it, weighing yourself down, it kind of simulates that rucking. If you are out there, you’ve got a little extra weight, it’s great for your bones and great for your muscles. And again, it helps you arrive with your brain full of endorphins, full of growth factors, well hydrated, really up for all the tasks at hand, wherever your destination is.
Honor The Big Feelings
Travel always brings up a lot for us. It’s a lot of extra dopamine, it’s excitement and it also pulls us away from home and pulls away from our routines. For those of you in recovery, sometimes it brings up new triggers. Especially let’s think about holiday travel. Wow, so many big feelings. Going back to see family or not, all of these are big feelings and it’s really important to note how travel brings these up for us. That’s why some of my best journal entries come from travel. I’m always happy when I’m in my journal, even if it’s a short saying, “Hey, here I am. I’m at the Denver airport again. Boy, I remember being here five years ago” or “Here I am. I’m in some foreign land I’ve never been. I just want to capture this moment.”
And it’s amazing how a journal just brings you right back with so much detail. So honor your big feelings. I bet you knew I was going to get to that one as a nutritional psychiatrist wanting you to think about your emotional journey. I hope these four big ideas help you think about travel and engage in travel. There’s so much for you and your mental health and your mental fitness in travel. I think it’s one of the great mental fitness challenges. Can we be aware? Can we be organized? Can we receive the messages? They’re out there for us on our trips and on our journeys.
Everyone, I’m Dr. Drew Ramsey. I hope that you make great use of this video. Please share it. Please like it. Check out our free newsletter, Friday Feels. Lots of information like this. And of course, please check out the book, Healing the Modern Brain, offering a framework for you on how to build your mental fitness. I’ll see you in the next video. Thank you so much.
