How to co-opt your next travel nightmare

(Also, please share pics in the chat)

Nov 27, 2024

Few things provoke rage quite like the indignities of travel. If you find yourself in a shitty situation this Thanksgiving, let me propose a useful cognitive reframe that I picked up from David H. Rosmarin, a clinical psychologist and founder of the Center for Anxiety.

Rosmarin argues that one of the causes of today’s unprecedented levels of anxiety is that we have become increasingly allergic to discomfort. So he suggests that we think of travel as a training in resilience. In other words, next time your flight gets delayed, you can try to view it as an opportunity to flex your tolerance muscle.

I might add, it’s also a good chance to practice mindfulness. What does this anger (or frustration or impatience or sadness) feel like in your body? What kinds of thoughts does it provoke? When you move into this investigative mode, you are no longer so owned by whatever difficult emotion is passing through.

Every moment—but especially a hard moment—is a chance to wake up.

Today I’m opening up the chat to all subscribers, free or paid. Share a photo from your travels. Or if you’re staying put, post a domestic pic. Whatever you’re doing—having fun, feeling frustrated, feeling lonely, stuck at work or in a long TSA line, in a country where Thanksgiving isn’t a thing—let’s trade pics and chop it up.