Mindful Messiness: Disruption is Part of the Plan
I was reminded recently that one of the goals of practicing mediation is not to not have distractions, but instead to train your brain to repeatedly refocus following distraction. That the power of it actually is exactly the act of getting distracted, acknowledging it, and coming back. Over and over. The bird’s eye view of health coaching follows the same principle. We spend a lot of time establishing your unique baseline of healthy habits knowing and expecting that it will get disrupted. Just like meditation, we actually practice returning to your baseline following each disruption and strengthen that ability the way we strengthen muscles in the gym. We are not expecting to establish habits that just lock in for all of time, but with practice, over time, the disruptions become less disruptive. We are never trying to eliminate them all together.
This is yet another reason why handing someone a rigid diet plan is ineffective. Those plans may work well when all the conditions are just right, but they fail to account for the realities of a full, wonderful life. There are endless possible disruptions, such as changing jobs, moving, relationships beginning or ending, travel, having a baby, friends visiting, going home for holidays…anything that makes your daily habits harder to access. As you can see, some disruptions are joyful and others may be challenging (and some are both!), which is yet another reason why we are not trying to eliminate them. We don’t want to throw out opportunities to have fun, connect with others, or go on a fun adventure just because Tuesdays are the day that we walk three miles and cook our broccoli. When we establish our routines with the expectation of flexibility and openness to adjustments, we also reduce the amount of stress we may feel when trying to enjoy the fun disruptions. Joy is a huge factor in health and think about how much MORE joyful some of these things can be when you’re not stressing over the meals you’re eating with friends or missing a couple workouts while you’re lying on a tropical beach.
Travel is one of the more common routine disruptors. It can be a reality of working life as well as a joyful break. For some, the occasional trip might be a very welcome disruption, but what happens when you are constantly traveling for work and trying to maintain and healthy, sustainable lifestyle? And even the occasional recreational trip can completely derail your routine if you haven’t managed expectations for returning to your baseline effectively.
Here are some of my favorite tips for how to eat well and maintain some healthy habits while traveling:
Try the local cuisine. You might discover your new favorite food!
Manage what you can. For example, breakfast is often the easiest meal to keep close to your normal routine. Try to choose simple, protein-forward breakfasts to start your day well.
Pack snacks if you have space and / or visit a local supermarket to fill in the gaps. Having snacks on hand can reduce the weird stuff we eat when we get desperately hungry.
Depending on the circumstances and accommodations, consider cooking a dinner or two to offset eating out.
Choose wisely from the menu. Your options will vary greatly depending on where you travel, but if you make an effort to cover all your macronutrients (aka main food groups), chances are you’ll do ok. Alternate between choosing fun, indulgent meals and more simple, practical meals.
Hydrate!
Enjoy the break from your routine. Manage what you can so you don’t feel gross when you get home, but also enjoy the deviation from your normal routine and trust yourself and your body to return to your baseline when you get home. If you don’t trust yourself, call me and I’ll help you!
I notice that adjusting my expectations for meditation to include and welcome the inevitable distractions also functions similarly to adjusting my travel expectations to include flexibility to enjoy whatever the trip brings. It helps to remind myself before I go that I can choose to manage some pieces that will keep me feeling my best, rather than just getting there and letting Island-Jessie run rampant. Having even a simple game plan going in can make all the difference.
Good luck out there.
