To recreate the boost to well-being you experience from travel, find joy in small things and explore your neighbourhood

The lack of travel right now doesn’t add stress to your life, but with no trips to anticipate you have ‘less beautiful things to think about’ when you’re down

Planning trips closer to home is a great way to get psyched for the immediate future, and can result in some of the same benefits as travel abroad

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A hiker on a Hong Kong walking trail. You can’t travel overseas, but a smaller excursion such as a hike can result in some of the same benefits as lavish travel abroad, says a Cornell Unversity professor. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:15am, 24 Sep 2020Updated: 6:26pm, 24 Sep 2020

Chances are, you’ve had to cancel holiday plans in the last five months. You probably felt disappointed – and guilty for mourning lost trips while the Covid-19 pandemic has caused others to lose much more.

It turns out that disappointment about cancelled trips goes beyond feeling sad. For many, travel – and anticipating travel – is a type of self-care.

“We tend to use something to look forward to as part of our self-care routine,” said Taisha Caldwell-Harvey, a psychologist and chief executive of the Black Girl Doctor, a therapy practice in the US state of California.

Now, because of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic, would-be travellers are stuck in a “holding pattern”, said Caldwell-Harvey. “It’s always a struggle to keep yourself uplifted. [Now] it’s like everyone’s trying to do it with both hands tied behind their back.”

Psychologist Taisha Caldwell-Harvey says would-be travellers are stuck in a “holding pattern”. Photo: Facebook/Taisha Caldwell-Harvey

Some use travel as a way to disrupt anxiety and racing thoughts. “You’ve never been to the Hawaiian Islands, and you try to predict what it’s going to look like. That’s the kind of soothing thought that puts you to sleep,” said Tom Gilovich, a professor of psychology at Cornell University in New York state.