Permission to Chill

be still

By Christina Nguyen

January 16^th, 2018

Remote Year Mangata recently celebrated 100 days on the road! We're a quarter of the way through our year. Every month is a new cycle. It goes something like this:

Weekend 1: Settle into your new home & figure out your surroundings
Weekend 2: Immerse through local experience events curated by the RY team
Weekend 3: Do all the things on your bucket list for that city/country
Weekend 4: Pack up and get ready to do it again

It's an incredible adventure, and a unique lifestyle. It gives you a ton to reflect on, and be grateful for. The truth is that it is also very exhausting. I'd like to write my story, and tell you why but I came across another fellow RYer's blog (from a different group) who I thought summed it up well in her post called "I'm still human, even on Remote Year."

^it's a 3 minute read so take a quick read & meet me back here

I moved from Europe to Asia this month, and the jet-lag affected me in ways that it never had in previous travels. It probably didn't help after coming off of a 2-week vacation where all routines went out the window. I started my first week in Japan with a terrible cold, and a migraine that left me in bed for days. The most human interaction I had was through FaceTime with my sweet boyfriend who checked in to make sure I was alive, and drinking at least eight glasses of water. I was feeling burned out, anti-social, and slightly bummed that I couldn't be out enjoying the beautiful sights of Japan.

Navigating the pendulum swing between healthy, and unhealthy is always a constant. Self-care these days seem to have a taken a life of its own.We know we need it, but for many people it's a lot to keep up with. Ensuring you practice self-care to navigate life helps us feel less stressed, and more productive. But it's counterproductive when you start finding yourself more stressed because you didn't get to squeeze that workout in, cook a healthy meal, or finish that one item you've been putting off on your to-do list.

What did I learn after five days of hibernation? It's okay to let yourself off the hook. Be kind to yourself when you've missed something in your routine or deviated from the self-care regimen. After all, that's what self-care is really about. Give yourself the support, and space to heal in order to be happy, healthy, and present. Slow down. Give yourself permission to chill. Sometimes standing still is moving forward. Enjoy the ride regardless of speed.