This was the last week in a series of traveling for me, and my goal was to make it through no worse off – physically and mentally. By the end of the last trip, I had grown weary of eating the same foods over and over with fruit as a dessert, if any, while everyone else was noshing on fancy desserts right next to me. It’s totally a first world problem as I had easy access to healthful food. But that helped me devise a better food strategy for this past week, to the extent that I took a proper suitcase instead of my usual backpack so I would have extra space for food.
Rice crackers not shown. For more ideas on packing for travels, check out On the Road Again.
Meanwhile, on the homefront, things got a little lax. Since my trip spanned mid-week to mid-week, I was making the family’s meals during the week which meant resorting to the basics of Baked Bean Chili, Tempeh Oat Loaf, Sloppy Lennys, and Un-Baked Ziti with easy sides like cooked carrots, spinach sauteed with garlic, steamed broccoli, microwaved baked potatoes. If prepared in advance, the Baked Ziti takes longer to reheat from the fridge than to make, so I made the cashew ricotta cheeze in advance and left instructions to add the tomatoes and cheeze to the pot after draining the pasta. Once you stir and heat through, it is ready to be devoured.
I also left recommendations on quick throw together meals, like how to extend a box of soup or packaged Indian food by adding canned beans, frozen veggies, and rice. They likely couldn’t bear spending much time in the kitchen without me, though, and enjoyed a night or two of eating out. No harm done, as it felt like yet another week of just getting by.
Without the self-imposed restrictions of packing super light, I packed sneakers and workout clothes – allowing for actual outdoor workouts instead of being limited to my hotel room or the hotel gym. For my mental health, I continued to practice my daily mindful breathing and push myself to workout on the mornings after I hadn’t slept well or felt that there was too much work to justify taking time for me.
But that should not be the case, because I’m worth spending time on me.
And so are you.
Are you taking time to invest in your physical and mental wellbeing?