I love traveling. A lot of people say that but it’s not something they do a lot. I actually traveled, mostly for work, at least once a month but usually more often. I’m really not trying to be pretentious but travel was a huge part of my life, I prioritized my money and days off for personal travel and I was lucky to have many perks from my constant work travel that I could then use for personal trips.
But in a cruel twist of irony, I had been working hard to separate myself from needing to travel so much for work. I approached my boss in the fall of 2017 wanting to leave auditing but saying I’d work one more busy season. I finally changed careers in May 2018. I still had to travel (4 weeks in Dublin in summer 2018) but it was going to be much less after the initial transition period.
I had two last work trips in October 2018 then had said no more travel that year. I was looking forward to my first January-May NOT being busy, and Kevin and were planning a trip to Hawaii in February 2019. I just had this medical thing I was finally home to put priority on, and we all know how that played out.
I wanted to decrease the amount I was traveling because it was hard to establish a routine and I craved more time in the home I had created. It’s not that I didn’t want to travel anymore, I just needed more balance.
I finally was “healed” enough to start traveling again but with MANY conditions and extremely different from how I defined travel pre-surgery.
There’s many factors that make it very stressful for me to travel. A big one is the logistics; I have to sit when I shower, I have to be more mindful that my bedroom is convenient (not down or upstairs), etc.
I went to Michigan for a week in June with Kevin and his family; it was my first trip post-surgery. It was very enjoyable, mostly because we took away those big stressors by bringing my shower chair and staying in a room on the first floor.
I took a road trip with Kevin a few weeks ago down to central Illinois. It was Friday-Sunday. It was a whole lot of emotions. Right away it was weird to be in a hotel. I had the thought of this was a very normal part of my life but it was the first time being in that environment with my new capabilities.
I was ok, happy and such, the first 24 hours. Then my mood turned, my whole perspective was negative and I just wanted to do the least possible. The constant being around “normal” people can majorly get me down. I’ve experienced this before; I plan all these social things because I love being busy and old Logan could handle it no problem but after 1-2 events I get overwhelmed.
I heard on a podcast something that’s so true and I will probably always remember. One of the hosts, her brother has some disability. She shared she recently took him on a trip and it was a disaster; like they had to go to the hospital. And then she said “all we want is to give them normal experiences, but really they thrive on routine.”
It’s so true. I know for everyone being away from home is hard. But for someone recovering it can be downright awful.
So, at least for now, I’m traveling much less and when I do really curtailing the kind of trip. It’s honestly heartbreaking but, compared to everything else I’m up again, quite minor.
❤️