At the airport, the decision to lose control was made as soon as you saw the prices at the food court.
When going to your Mom’s house, the decision to lose control was made when she told you she was making her famous four-layer cake.
The moment you saw that Taco Bell logo during your late night drive…. the decision was made.
When you saw the concessions stands during your family trip to that local amusement park…the decision was made
While traveling for business, the decision to lose control was made as soon as you heard the word “complimentary” during your flight.
Lose Control WhileTraveling = Stress
Traveling is a very stress activity. Whether that’s for a fun vacation or a long-term business trip. The simple act of just leaving our household startles us on an unconscious level.
You work hard in this life to build consistency. That’s why the American dream for so many years was to own your own house. You could live in that one spot for the rest of your life and not have to worry about change.
All your kids would grow up on that street. They would have the same friends throughout childhood. They would all go to the same schools and grow up. Ideally, it isn’t until college that they should start to experience their first major change.
College
That trip to college is a major milestone. That’s one of the longest trips you go through as a youngster. The college dorm is basically an eight-month hotel filled with other kids just as scared as you are.
Really think about it!
How easy was it to lose control over who you were?
Being around new sights and sensations and ideas brought about changes. Where you use to be in control, you found yourself completely out of your comfort zone.
How was your eating at college?
There’s a reason it’s called the Freshman 15. Having access to food that YOU decide was a game changer. No longer did you have to eat what mommy and daddy forced you to eat.
Don’t want vegetables? No problem! You’ll just double dip on some cookies tonight.
Healthy oatmeal for breakfast…. Forget that! Give me five glazed donuts with chocolate milk & Captain Crunch please!
First Apartment
Even if you didn’t go to college, your first apartment was just like a traveling experience. You were not sure how long you would be at that place but you knew you weren’t at home anymore. You had to be responsible by paying rent and utility bills.
The act of controlling what you ate every night was new. You either learned how to cook or went out every day. We all had our special drawer stuffed with pizza and Chinese food menus to get us through those “too tired to cook days.”
Travel Mentality
Those college and apartment sensations are similar to what you go through as you travel. At first they are a complete shock to your system. If you don’t learn how to take care of yourself, you’re most likely going to flunk out of college or get evicted from your apartment. Either situation is very traumatic.
Have you ever wondered what happens if you don’t get in control over your traveling experience?
We like to think of traveling only as temporary. Due to that mindset it’s easy to not be aware of all the stresses involved with traveling. Not being aware makes it easy to avoid the obvious symptoms of when you start losing control during your trip.
When on the road, convenience becomes a major factor in your decisions. There’s a reason they are called convenience stores. It’s all about getting you to feel comfortable by having all the things you think you need to feel in control at one nice location.
A simple convenience store visit to get something to drink easily causes you to lose control by buying soda, candy bars, chips, sandwiches and a sugary snack mix.
Comfort
There’s also a reason we call certain foods “Comfort Foods”. These are the foods we love to eat to feel comfortable when stress out. Too bad comfort foods are not always healthy. It’s normally foods filled with lots of calories, fat and carbohydrates.
Tasty!
What starts is a viscous cycle of overeating to get satisfied and feeling crappy about it because of the poor food choice. The cycle gets amplified during trips because most don’t realize it’s the travel stress that’s really igniting the mind.
When visiting our loved ones we want to make them feel comfortable by being uncomfortable ourselves and eating whatever special treats they provide. Even if it’s something we normally don’t eat, we will go out of our comfort zone to please them.
Don’t Repeat The Past…Take Control!
People have a tendency to let their “healthy living guards” completely down while traveling and than are surprised by the final result.
Why?
Because it’s so much easier to do NOTHING at all then to do SOMETHING. Humans are lazy by nature.
If all we had to do was eat one green pill a day for a six-pack body, we still we complain that the green pill was too big.
We will naturally avoid doing something to look good. Especially while traveling.
All our favorite destination vacation spots know this. Why do you think those fast food restaurants staked that territory out? They’re making millions off the fact that you will lose control over your eating habits.
Are You Ready To Be In Control?
