I’m a huge proponent of travel, as you likely already know if you’ve been following me for a while. I’ve visited 41 countries to date, gave birth to my youngest daughter while living in Bangkok, and spent 15 years living overseas before moving back to the US just last year. You can read all about it in my memoir Passports and Parasites: An Extraordinary Journey of Adventure, Resilience, and Healing.
While I strongly believe in the healing power of travel (you can learn about the health benefits of travel in this post), I also get that traveling the world isn’t realistic for everyone. For many people — especially those with full-time jobs, families, and young children — weekend getaways and day trips are much more feasible.
But there’s some good news about these short-term vacations or weekend getaways: they count as self-care, too! You don’t necessarily have to leave the country — or even your state — to carve out some time for yourself. Here are a few ideas to help you nurture your mind, body, and spirit whether you have one day to travel or an entire weekend!
First, What is Self-Care?
Self-care has a slightly different meaning for everyone, and that’s OK. Some people think of manicures, spas, and cucumber water when they hear the word “self-care”, while others think of spending a day on a sandy beach, exploring someplace new (like a museum or a state park), or getting their heart pumping at the gym.
Each of these things may seem vastly different, but the truth is that they all count as self-care. There are multiple pillars of self-care and our need for each specific type depends largely on the stressors in our lives, our health goals and needs, our personality type, and many other factors.
The different pillars of self-care include:
- Physical self-care (i.e. caring for our bodies).
- Mental self-care (i.e. caring for our minds).
- Emotional self-care (i.e. checking in our feelings and emotions).
- Social self-care (i.e. maintaining relationships with others).
- Spiritual self-care (i.e. caring for your spirit, whether through prayer or secular meditation).
So which pillar of self-care does travel fall under? Any of them! The important thing is that you’re giving your body and mind some downtime to recharge and disconnect from the stressors of daily living.
Short-Term Travel Ideas for Self-Care
Whether you’re heading out of town for the day or have a whole weekend to spend somewhere new, so many different types of activities can fall under the concept of wellness tourism (AKA travel associated with health and well-being).
To name a few examples, you could spend a day at one of America’s healing hot springs (you’ll find some amazing options in this post); hike somewhere like Glacier, Zion, or Grand Teton National Park; or visit a nearby farm sanctuary to spend some time volunteering and caring for the animals that reside there. There are numerous physical, mental, and emotional health benefits of interacting with animals, and even something like horseback riding, goat yoga, or visiting a wildlife sanctuary can be well worth a drive out of town.
Other self-care activities to enjoy during a weekend away might include:
- Staying at a destination spa that offers yoga, sauna therapy, massages, meditation classes, and other wellness activities.
- Touring a winery, brewery, or distillery and enjoying a tasting (or two).
- Staying in a major city near you and exploring its historical landmarks, museums, local cuisine, and other attractions.
- Renting a canoe or kayak and spending a day paddling down a river.
- Camping under the stars somewhere remote (a great opportunity for a digital detox!).
Vacations — whether long or short — are incredible for our health and well-being. Even spending one day away from home can be enough to recharge the mind and body, especially if we clear all distractions (e.g. our phone and to-do list) and allow ourselves to be present in the moment.
We All Need Vacations
Everyone deserves a break from the stressors of daily life, and sometimes that means getting out of the house and spending a day or weekend away. We don’t have to travel internationally to reap the health benefits of travel. The most important thing is how our travels make us feel, not the destination itself.
References:
- https://www.verywellmind.com/self-care-strategies-overall-stress-reduction-3144729
- https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/what-is-wellness/what-is-wellness-tourism/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7185850/
