Taking the Anxiety out of Your Travel and Life

Realizing you need to go to therapy is not easy. Then, finding a good therapist is a whole other challenge. Noah Rubinstein, founder and CEO of GoodTherapy.org, recognized these concerns and created the organization to serve as a place for anyone, anywhere, anytime to search for help. There are thousands of therapists from over 30 countries listed on GoodTherapy.org. “As we heal ourselves, we help to heal our world,” he stated.

Travel Without Anxiety

While traveling can be fun, it can also be very stressful. Rubinstein recommends leaving your baggage at home…emotional baggage, that is. “When I think about the challenges a traveler may face, it’s all about one state of mind, going with the flow and trusting that everything is going to work out.” He offers some useful tips when it comes to reducing stress while preparing for the big trip.

• If you’re nervous about traveling, get the help you need well before you go (start therapy long before you depart).
• Give yourself plenty of time by choosing a convenient flight (if you’re not a morning person, don’t select the 6 am option).
• Sleep well the night before the trip and have everything ready to go.
• Do some meditating ahead of time and try to reach a state of inner calmness and peace.
• Have a relaxed (not stressed) state of mind and things will fall into place.
• If traveling with kids, give up control and be flexible – understand that circumstances will be unpredictable.

So what is Rubinstein’s travel routine? “I like to give myself a lot of extra time when I travel. I’ve been doing my own therapy for a long time, and I’m a much calmer person than I was 10 years ago. I don’t stress out when I travel now, and I think it’s all about being in the right state of mind. It’s easy for people to get hijacked by tension, impatience and worry, and the key really is just to be relaxed, to be easy about it, and to tap into that state of mind in which you feel you trust that everything is always working out – there’s nothing to fear.”

Be Mightier Than That Overhead Bin

People often get stressed when traveling, either from a prior experience or just worrying that something might happen. Rubinstein recommends not stressing over the small stuff. “It’s telling yourself it’s not the end of the world if I miss my flight, if there’s a long line, if I don’t find an overhead bin to put my baggage in…it’s about really going with the flow and not depending on conditions for your happiness.”

“It’s about accessing that state of mind where you’re happy regardless of the condition. And that takes a lot of inner work to get to that point where you can find your joy no matter what’s happening, what’s going on…and when you do, everything becomes easy, including traveling,” he added.

Rediscovering Who We Really Are

While travel can lead to discovering who you are, therapy can help you rediscover yourself. Rubinstein started his company, GoodTherapy.org, as a result of his own therapy experiences. “Therapy saved my life,” he said. “So I see it as a sacred process that helps us reconnect to who we really are and who we were born to be.” GoodTherapy.org exists to support multiple efforts:

• To protect therapy
• To protect consumers in therapy
• To protect the practice of psychotherapy
• To help erase the stigmas that go along with mental illness

According to Rubinstein, “Everything is solvable. You shouldn’t be afraid to look inside yourself and understand healthy and unhealthy therapy. Therapists make mistakes, but a good therapist is one that can notice, acknowledge, repair and attend to their client’s needs.”

Why GoodTherapy.org?

While GoodTherapy.org links you to thousands of therapists in just a few clicks, the company website also offers an incredible amount of useful articles about various therapy and psychology topics. They even have a PsychPedia A-Z section with a plethora of information about mental health and publish about 100 new articles every month.

“Many people don’t know how therapy works and they have lots of assumptions, and there a lot of myths about it and we really want to challenge those,” Rubinstein noted. “I think we’ve been able to really achieve that mission of educating the public about the process of therapy – healthy and unhealthy therapy – and I think we’ve empowered lots of people to seek out therapy. We’ve also challenged those myths and stereotypes and stigmas around therapy and therapists.”

Even if you’re not ready to make that first move to call a therapist, reading the articles can be extremely therapeutic, so you can see that you’re not alone if you’re feeling a certain way. Over time, Rubinstein says that it’s not what really happens to us that matters. “It’s how we perceive what’s happening to us and how we react to what happens…it’s all about our perception and expectation. If we can relax and feel easy, everything becomes easy. If we’re not, then nothing is easy.”