Have Trainer, Will Travel: 5 Reasons to Include Neurofeedback in Your Vacation Plans

There’s nothing like summer vacation. It’s a time when we break away from our breakneck-paced lives and learn to slow down and smell the petunias. Vacation is a time for new experiences, catching up with family, and for once, allowing ourselves to be a little lazy.

Yes, there’s nothing like “summer vacation” because the above doesn’t describe anything that even remotely resembles my (or most people’s) ACTUAL summer vacation. Guess what? There’s a lot of stress associated with vacation! Think about it. In the name of relaxation, you are subjecting yourself to a radical change in routine, cranky crowds and overwhelming unfamiliarity. There’s a reason some smart Alec Baldwin coined the expression: “I need a vacation from my vacation”.

The chaos of a few days off can actually conspire to throw a perfectly healthy brain out of whack. What’s worse is that, when your brain is neurally overloaded, you’re not going to enjoy the experience of being someplace new and interesting.  So whatever you do; wherever you go, take your NeurOptimal^® Personal Trainer with you. I do.

Here are 5 practical reasons you should never hit the road running unless you plan to run some sessions.

Gotta make plans to make my plans.
If you’re like me, you probably planned things months in advance, had everything organized and ready to go so that all you had to do was hand the key to your dog sitter and hit the road. OK; I’m lying. I didn’t actually have time to do much planning or preparation before the moment of departure/truth arrived. Basically, I went through a mad rush the night before to throw all my junk into a suitcase (half of it dirty) and finish work for my clients. 2AM arrived and I thought, “I can get by on 4 hours sleep…can’t I?”. I can, but my brain is going to eventually punish me with dystopia for that deprivation.

Hurry Up and Get There.
Like 90% of all Americans this summer, I travel on four wheels; not on two wings. While the road has lots of romance and culture, traveling via America’s byways is not exactly stress free. There’s construction. There’s that idiot in a BMW who blows by me, nearly shearing off my bumper. There’s my seven year old kicking the back of my seat. I’m getting mad just thinking about it. I believe I’m experiencing Severe Travel Regret and Excess Serious Suboptimalization. Better known as STRESS. What would happen if I ran a session while driving?  Would I get a ticket for DWO: Driving While Optimized? Might be worth the risk.

Unfamiliar Territory.
It doesn’t seem to matter where I stay or how fluffy the bed pillows, I never sleep well in an unfamiliar place. There is actually something called “first night syndrome” which,  in my mind, means I’m in for about 4 hours of tossing, turning and staring at the cottage cheese ceiling. It doesn’t matter how many stars the hotel in question has garnered on Yelp, I’ll probably be staring at the real constellations on my balcony at three in the morning when I can’t sleep.  Perfect time to turn home neurofeedback into “road” neurofeedback.

You can have fun, but you can’t hide.
The wonderful thing about today’s internet and cellular technologies is they allow you to work from anywhere at any time. The worst thing about these technologies is you can run but you can’t hide.  One survey found that almost a quarter of Americans check their emails on vacation. And those were just that ones that were being honest. If you work for someone else, you face a dilemma. If you don’t keep tabs on work, some brown-noser in IT will be sucking up to your boss, trying to cut in while you are out. If you work for yourself (like me), your clients’ livelihood depends on you. Are you really going to leave them hanging for a couple weeks while you check out?! I unfortunately am burdened with a responsible conscience and can’t do that. So if you absolutely have to work, run a neurofeedback session while catching up on company commuiques.

The Kids Aren’t Always Alright.
Traveling with children is wonderful. Exploring new places; seeing new things. Then there’s the other 90% of vacation when you just wish your kids would entertain themselves for five minutes instead of intentionally dumping a full ice bucket onto your hotel room floor. Now I know why my parents packed a full bar to take along on all our family trips. But guess what?Neurofeedback training is more effective, won’t rot your liver and doesn’t leave you hung over like old Johnnie Walker. Hurray.

So if you want to be a happy camper this vacation, bring your Neuroptimal^® Personal Trainer. Take a REAL vacation from your vacation, one session at a time.