Trip Anxiety

 

 

The other morning, out of the blue, The Bee Man says, Let’s go to Mexico!  Call Archie and Rosa.  I asked him if he meant it.  He did.  I called and quickly heard a familiar brother say, “My Queen!!!!!!!!”  And it was set.  We are going to Yuma and then to Mexico to get The Bee Man some hearing aides and his tooth fized.  I will be getting new glasses since I poked a hole in my lens falling down last steps of a cliff.  The multipoint lens is no longer the correct prescription for my right eye.  And now, it sets in…the trip anxiety.  I do not get excited until we are on the road.

I love to ravel.  I hate the preceding time before I go.  It coud be the fear of the unknown and the hundreds of things that could keep us from going, a hundred things that could go wrong on the trip… it is endless what I refuse to think about but sits in my psyche keeping me from being excited to go.  And I welcome my own personal trip advisor...Anxiety!

Anxiety is fear and the body response to stress:  worry, tension, moving closely to the drawn line of panic.  I cope and control it well but am well aware, although others could never guess, it is there, swirling around, waiting for me to have a weka moment where it can take control.  I refuse it.

There is no one cause that I should be anxious.  Every three months, or so, I drive a 9-hour drive through the passes headed for Alberta.  I absolutely love the drive and love driving.  I love being with my daughter and granddaughter.  But, prior to me going, I am always like this. 

For me, coping with the anxiety is just a matter of mind over matter.  When it comes, like a perching bird, I go and add something else to my open luggage I start as soon as I know I am going somewhere for extended time. 

Note:  anxiety and/or stress can lower blood sugar in some people.  I am one of those.  It is measurable.  And, as I age, I am noticing that I can not multi-task like I used to, so I tend to go over lists of things to take and things to do, get longer.  But that list is part of my preplanning and battle plan.

I know that I worry about breaking down and having enough money.  I worry about taking the wrong roads and that my phone google maps is up to date and right. I worry about weather conditions because we are in winter until nearly to Arizona and have a couple of big passes to go through.  I worry about having to sleep in the vehicle if the hotels/motels are full.  I worry about The Bee Man’s driving and having to drive through cities.    I worry about my dogs, plants, and personal things at home.  I worry about someone coming in and making themselves at home and leaving me their mess to clean up (ie:  laundering bedding, old dishes, being drunk in the house etc, using my personal things …. yes, this has happened before.)

Part of my coping skills has been to keep as busy as possible for the time before the trip.  I keep a running check list of things to take so I do not forget anything I make sure that I keep my mind busy by doing some reading of fiction, etc. that is not computer time, or art time.  I open up a suitcase and start loading it for two weeks ahead of time, this time.  I begin to schedule my day by breaking it up into timed activities:  time for baking, time for art, time for reading, time for tv, time for computer, time for cleaning, etc.  As long as I stay busy, I can stop the nagging worry. 

Once I am on the road, all those things that make me anxious are gone.  I make envelopes for what I can spend in a day.  I take reading material.  I take a watercolor art kit.  I cuddle up in a blanket and have my pillow.  These things distract me as we drive.  I can take over driving as well.  I. then, am all about dreaming up the fun we can have.  All anxiety dissipates.

Is there something that causes you a substantial bit of time being anxious?  What are your triggers? How do you cope?  What makes it dissipate?

©Carol Desjarlais 11.15.23