Be Present

If COVID has taught people nothing else, know that self-care is not self-indulgence, it is survival.  Being in the travel industry, I honestly had many travel blessings bestowed upon me prior to COVID and its many travel restrictions.  In November of 2019 I just returned from a family vacation in Dubai, and in January of 2020 I was in Mexico enjoying a relaxing break with my husband…then COVID hit in February of 2020.  While the restrictions were difficult and necessary, it was not unbearable because I traveled yearly. 

Since COVID, I have heard from friends, family and acquaintances, the same story over and over,  I wish I had taken that trip, I wish that I gone on vacation with my family, I wish that I had taken that girls trip.  This regret coupled with the unpresented death toll and this takes on a more important meaning.   

COVID has stricken my family members as well but recently it was more personal and close to home.  One of my sweetest cousins, who was stricken with COVID, and survived a double lung transplant died from a stroke.  During her service, her husband stated “we were waiting for me to retire so that we could travel.  She really wanted to see Italy and we never did it…we thought we had more time”….this broke my heart. 

Travel does so many things, besides seeing a new location, meeting people, new foods, it is also self-care.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), self-care is “the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider.” COVID has had many in its grips and the loneliness, sadness coupled with mental stress, is quite a bit to bear. 

As we emerge from COVID, lick our wounds and take stock into what is important, I can say without a doubt, TAKE THE TRIP, CONNECT WITH FRIENDS, and LAY HANDS AND EYES ON FAMILY. I can’t impress upon my readers enough to be present in everything you do.  Plan the family trip, get the cousins, aunts, nieces, nephews together.  Do the wine trip with your classmates or girlfriends.  Go to the spa with the fellas, or go to a great cigar spot with your friends.

Get the car ready for a road trip with a classmate.  Do something together to reconnect and enhance your self-care.  Travel can be to another part of your city, state, country or world.  It can be local or international.  It can be whatever you PLAN it to be. 
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I have lost loved ones to this dreaded disease, and I can say for the most part I was connected to many of them, but this last one, really broke my heart and now I too am committed to some additional self-care.  

​Safe Travels

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