As we kick off the summer months, many of us are getting ready for an uptick in travel – both work travel and personal travel (and sometimes even a little bit of both!). As exciting as this might be, changes in routine sometimes are accompanied by anxiety, particularly around how we might be able to maintain healthy habits we worked so hard to implement, when our schedules and environments change. We start to fear that travel might interrupt the healthy lifestyle we worked diligently to shape through regular health coaching sessions and that it might be hard to get back on track.
Fear not! Not only are health coaches instrumental in activating regular health habits, but also they help us maintain them, even when life gets tricky. Whether you’re traveling for fun or your job brings about frequent trips, health coaches are key to making sure your health habits stay in focus and that even when interruptions happen, you’re able to get right back on track. In today’s blog, we share three of the many ways health coaches help you maintain healthy habits while traveling.
Craft a plan with your health coach.
No one understands the importance of a well-thought-out plan like a health coach. Especially when you know your schedule is about to get shaken up, work alongside your health coach to lay out your anticipated schedule. Together, identify pockets of time where you might be able to carve out space to honor your existing health and wellbeing goals.
For example, if you’re expecting to be at an all-day conference but you’re still looking to hit your step goal, consider whether you can make time for a twenty minute walk in the morning and evening. Does your hotel have a gym? Will you have breaks during the day where you can take a walk outside or even across the conference center? If not, can you get some extra steps in at the airport while waiting to board your flight? In its essence, health coaching is meant to be personalized. It’s meant to meet us where we are, wherever we are, so that our goals are achievable in the here and now. Health coaches can work with you to see the opportunities available to make your goals work, despite the circumstances, and help you adapt.
Reserve space to nurture your mental health.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re traveling to relax or to visit family or to join all-day meetings, travel can be really tough on our mental health. Health coaches can help prepare you for this by making sure we carve out space to support our mental health. For example, they can teach us breathing techniques that might keep us calm and centered on flights or when things get particularly stressful. Health coaches can work with you to cultivate a positive mindset and resilience. Techniques like gratitude journaling and positive affirmations can bolster your mental health, even when things feel unmanageable.
Embrace giving yourself grace and learn to tap back into your momentum.
Health coaches know that progress is absolutely always better than perfection and that once you’ve decided to take steps towards optimizing your health, there’s no such thing as a setback. Coaches can help clients understand that even when our journey towards achieving better health is interrupted by something like travel, it’s all just a part of our own, individualized journeys. By normalizing these experiences, individuals can feel less isolated and more motivated to continue. Not only that, but coaches work with clients to set realistic and achievable goals, considering their lifestyle and circumstances, reminding them that flexibility is precisely what helps foster a growth mindset. This reduces the likelihood of feeling overwhelmed or disappointed when we’re not able to have the same routines while traveling as we do when at home.
Importantly, health coaches introduce self-compassion, which can be fostered by self-kindness meditations or compassionate self-talk. The goal is for us to start treating ourselves with the same kindness we would offer a friend. Not only is this skill key when our habits are altered by short-term changes in our day-to-day experiences through things like travel, but also when bigger life moments occur that might shift our focus – like grief and loss, parenthood, moving, etc. Health coaches help us give ourselves grace even when it’s hard, keeping our long-term health journey in perspective so we can get right back on track as soon as we’re ready.
Employers, especially if you have employees who travel frequently, but even if you have employees who travel occasionally for work or fun, real health coaches are an absolutely necessary and one-of-a-kind tool to make sure your employees are continuously supported in achieving more optimal mental and physical health. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can partner with you to deliver the power of real and impactful health coaching to your employees, send us an email to team@yourcoach.health.