“You don’t deserve to travel.”

“You have too many responsibilities to travel.”

“Who do you think you are?” 

“You’re selfish!”

“There are more important ways to spend time and money.”

Sound familiar?  Even if no one has said this to you, maybe you’ve said these things to yourself.

Travel is for you.  Whether it’s travel across the planet or travel to the next town over, it’s for you.  There will always be what-if and what-about questions, and they will crush your plans before you even get started. How can you mitigate the influence of travel guilt and travel doubt?

• Be selective about whom you share your travel plans with.  There is no need to post your travel ideas on social media or tell a bunch of half-friends what you plan to do.  Why do you need a thousand opinions about what you should do or where you should go, or what everyone thinks about where you plan to go?  You don’t.  It’s your trip.  You plan it.
• If you have friends who have traveled where you’re going, talk to them after you’ve made your bookings.  Don’t let them decide how you should plan your trip.  Take their input gracefully, but remember that it isn’t your job to please them or plan so that they can relive their trip vicariously through you.  If you have family or friends who will be jealous and judge you for traveling, then don’t tell them about your trip at all. 
• If you are worried about what could happen at home while you’re gone, realize that you are not in control of everything that happens in the world.  Accidents and disasters can and will continue to happen whether you travel or whether you never leave your home, so why not plan to travel?  It’s understandable if you’ve never traveled much because you’re worried about the well-being of special people in your life, but your well-being is important as well.  You might even plan how you can bring these special people with you on the trip!  Or even special pets -  check out this guide from the US Department of Agriculture on traveling with pets. 

        What kinds of guilt have kept you from traveling?  Join our site to comment and share!