Travel and new experiences can provide a mental and emotional reset

Over the years I’ve been blessed to experience a variety of travel opportunities that I’ll never take that for granted.? I’ve appreciated every trip, whether it was a weekend visit to Morro Bay, or a longer get-away to Cabo San Lucas or Munich or somewhere else.

When our boys were young, we spent a lot of time on the road in the summer, usually driving to national parks or national landmarks around the country.? Those trips and the memories we share still make us laugh out loud. For example, we still laugh at the way Jake, my oldest son, kept us in stitches from the backseat with his running dialogue from our favorite movie.

In terms of international travel, I was over 50 years old before I crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.? I had always told myself there was so much to see in the U.S. that I didn’t need to travel internationally.? But that 2019 trip to Italy (Venice, Florence, and Rome) and to Germany (Hamburg and the northern part of the country) completely changed my perspective.? Not just on travel, but on life, too!?

Exploring international destinations brought the world closer.? Suddenly I realized how interconnected we all are, regardless of the continent or time zone.? Visiting places where English is not the first language and where I am immersed in other cultures reminds me that it’s not all about “us.”? The world doesn’t revolve around America (and certainly not me!).

When my husband, Darren, passed last year, more than one friend encouraged me to do “lots of traveling.”? Even though I had been mulling over that very idea, I found it interesting that travel was brought up so often.? Turns out the idea of traveling after losing someone is not uncommon, and it even has a name: “Griefcation.”??

?Looking back, I realized I had actually taken a mini-griefcation a few months after losing my mom nearly 10 years ago.? That trip to Pismo Beach was partly about spending a weekend alone and facing my grief head-on, and it was also about trying to find a way to relight my very passion for life.? The grief was still there, but that one weekend of praying, running on the beach, searching for sand dollars, and listening to God worked wonders on my heart and helped prepare me to move forward.

Not long after we lost Darren, my friends and I placed some girls’ trips on the calendar, including a Donny Osmond concert (my first crush), the Rock to Pier 10k in Morro Bay, and wine tasting in Paso Robles.? Then there was the wine blending class with my youngest son, Zack, also in Paso Robles.? Those short trips felt like lifelines, activities to look forward to with friends and family.

?Next, we decided to go bigger and started planning for a December trip to Munich.? Jake has lived there the past two years, and we thought it might help us get through the holidays if Zack and I spent part of the month with him in Germany.? Did that big trip cause us to miss Darren less?? Absolutely not. ?We remembered with love our last family experience in Munich, when Darren and Zack and I joined Jake for Oktoberfest in 2022.? Spending December 2023 in the beauty of Germany and Austria was the perfect way to create new memories while remembering the most wonderful and last time we were all together on a big trip!?

Sometimes we all feel the need to get away, whether it’s to escape our day-to-day stress, to spend quality time with loved ones, or to face (or get a break from) grief.? Whatever your reason and whatever the destination, more than ever my suggestion is to take yourself out of your regular environment to give your mind and heart a healing reset.