How to Travel Full-Time When You Have Crippling Anxiety, Depression, and Travel-Triggered Mental Health Issues
<p><em>Trigger warning: This article talks about anxiety, depression, OCD, and other mental health issues. Proceed with caution.</em></p>
<p>Travel and mental health issues don’t play well together.</p>
<p>When you live out of Airbnbs with no fixed address and spend all your time flinging yourself out of your comfort zone, there is little room for the safety and security that those of us with mental health issues seek out.</p>
<p>I have no safe place. Nowhere to go when things get rough. And they definitely get rough.</p>
<p>This is a tough article to write because it’s going to get incredibly honest. I’m going to tell you things that few people in real life know (I do a very good job of hiding my issues).</p>
<p>But I want to write it because I know there are plenty of people with mental health issues who desperately want to travel but worry they can’t do it.</p>
<p>Quick disclaimer because I’d not feel right writing this article without it — I can only offer my own experiences and perspective here. My issues are nowhere near as severe as some, for whom traveling may be impossible. I’m also — natch — not a doctor or therapist so can offer no medical advice.</p>
<p>What I can offer however is some hope that there are <em>absolutely</em> ways to travel whilst dealing with less-than-perfect mental health.</p>
<h1>How do you travel when your mental health issues are triggered by it?</h1>
<p>Deep breath.</p>
<p>I’m going to tell you something that only my husband and therapist truly know. IRL I keep this VERY much under wraps because I’m thoroughly embarrassed. I’m still not 100% sure I’m going to ship this article <em>because</em> I’m so embarrassed (Authors note: after two hours of working up the courage, yes, I shipped it. Then cried).</p>
<p>But no mental health stigma was ever broken down by keeping issues under wraps so here goes.</p>
<p>I suffer from some mental health issues focused around one of the worst possible things when you travel full-time:</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/globetrotters/how-to-travel-full-time-when-you-have-crippling-anxiety-depression-and-travel-triggered-mental-b2a0090a9e76"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>