Want to improve your wellbeing? Then get pampered with a well-deserved holiday!

By Amanda Sumner-Potts

We’ve all heard the metaphor about the importance of ensuring our own oxygen mask is fitted first before coming to the aid of others. In life, as in any mid-air emergency, we must ensure we look after our own wellbeing before we can be at our best to nurture and support others. It is advice for self-care that many of us, particularly women, too often fail to follow. The result can be exhaustion, burn-out and mental fatigue.

Self-care can take many forms including taking time out for ourselves to walk in nature, exercise, have a massage, eat healthy food and generally just finding balance and enjoyment in every day activities.

Travel therapy is increasingly being recognised as a way of combining all of the above, and more, in order to recharge, reconnect and restore our sense of happiness and wellbeing. It involves being in a new location- overseas, interstate or just down the road- where we can experience fresh surroundings that lift us up above our daily routines to give us a renewed perspective and the possibility of encountering different things. It is an opportunity to do a reset, to break out of any unhealthy patterns and create the space to establish new ones.

Travelling helps us learn about ourselves: our strengths, desires and priorities. Travelling on our own is particularly helpful in allowing us to focus on our own needs and connect in with a deeper part of ourselves. It is a chance to step outside our comfort zone to explore our inner strength and experience new, unfamiliar things. Our families are important and we do love them, most of the time, but having ‘me time’ is therapeutic and often necessary.

The perfect way to find some ‘me time’- to recharge, reconnect and restore- is a holiday destination where nature is a key ingredient, as are wellbeing activities such as walking, swimming and yoga, plus indulging in delicious vitamin-rich, tropical fruit and vegetables. It is an opportunity to sample new foods by exploring the local cuisine and to try different activities or to learn new skills. Add a dose of an exotic culture, leisurely mornings and no cooking or housework to give yourself the best chance of experiencing a complete reset and full recharge.