How I travel when I’m in luteal and want to remain a person

Hello dear sensitive ones! As I noted in my post about how to use Feng Shui to uplevel your life and welcome in your next identity, we’ve been traveling in Indiana. We actually first camped for three days in our pop-up camper in central Pennsylvania with some friends, then drove to northwest Indiana. We’re on our way back as I write this. Phew. Gonna need a hard reset on my health and habits when we make it back home, as I do every year.

I like to travel, but it is also very, very hard on me, my body and my nervous system. I am not somebody that finds a lot of calm in travel, and it can be really dysregulating and super disruptive to my habits.

For some reason, in particular, I always struggle with this disruption most when we come to Indiana. (I think she is always trying to teach me lessons of better devotion to my health through the excess that happens here; she did inspire me to get sober from alcohol years ago after all… but the spiral lessons continue.) Whatever the reason: all my rituals and ways of nourishing myself fly out the window (except my sobriety, which is just about at the 3-year mark! I hope to write more about that soon). The combination of lots of socialization, later nights, the eating and drinking culture here, stress from long drives and more makes it a place where I just… do not stick to the routines that support me. I find myself pounding caffeine, eating tons of sugar, eating fried foods, out late, not sleeping well, etc etc.

I also almost always seem to be in Indiana when I’m in the late luteal cycle of my period, which exacerbates everything. I’ve struggled with PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, an intense version of PMS - frankly the word intense doesn’t really encompass it - it’s quite bad, and you have my sympathy if you also struggle with it) my whole cycling life, with it significantly worsening in my mid-to-late-30s before I realized I was in perimenopause. This caused me to overhaul so much of my life so that these days, when I’m on point, at age 46, I barely experience any physical or mental health symptoms (from PMDD/PMS or perimenopause - it can be done).

(Psst - I’m going to write a post soon called My lifelong poor mental health and mood swings were significantly affected by my body and diet. Here’s how I changed it all - make sure you’re a paid subscriber to get it when it comes out, and enjoy this 20% off sale - especially if you’ve ever struggled with the awful PMDD mood swings that threaten to blow up your life every month the 7-14 days before your period, which is what was happening with me. I overhauled my life, health and diet because it was either THAT, or be in a cycle of burning down my life and every relationship in it once a month.)

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You can get the subscription monthly, or annually. Monthly, the discount makes this $5.60/month (LESS THAN A MATCHA THESE DAYS!!!) or $61.60 for a full year.

However, my mental and physical health - well, did you ever watch Parks and Rec? Do you remember the episode when everyone is getting the flu, and Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) freaks out, because while he’s a total health nut, he says his body is like a microchip?

That’s kind of like me and my mental/physical health. When it’s good, it’s very very good, but when a grain of sand (stress from long travel, caffeine, one night of poor sleep, one sugary breakfast, too much socializing…) gets in…

…it’s bad. It is a VERY delicate balance. And in Indiana, often… the balance ain’t there.

This is just life to a certain extent. I’ve never felt that wellness or my health is a level of perfection to be achieved and rigidly stuck to forever and ever. Sometimes, shit is gonna suck and I’m going to revert to old coping habits and I’ll have a temporary struggle. But these days I know and I trust I can find my way back.

That said, these days, after 7 years of experiencing this struggle in Indiana, these days I come a teensy bit more prepared with hacks — easy things that are simple to stay on top that really help, particularly when I’m in luteal and PMDD is rearing its head. I’ve accepted that things aren’t going to be perfect while we’re here; I’ll likely have caffeine, sugar, be exhausted from the travel/socialization - but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. I don’t have to go into total dysregulated collapse, and I also don’t have to stick perfectly to every single thing that supports me. I can take a middle road and still support myself somewhat in easier ways.

Below, I’ll share…

• The supplements I extra rely on when traveling in late luteal

• The over-the-counter medicine that is a godsend when traveling in luteal

• The ‘bare minimum’ self care rituals I stick to when traveling

• The things I will NEVER do while traveling

• The short meditation I try to listen to every night before bed that helps clear my energy

• How exactly I get back on track after travel disruptions to my routine

• The one rule I always stick to in luteal that has honestly saved me more times than I can count (a true lifesaver)

• And more

You can get all this for $5.60 right now if you become a monthly paid subscriber right here (cancel anytime). The sale ends Sept 22.

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I’ll have lots more posts coming up since I’m close to done with the first draft of my Tarot book and can devote myself back to writing here much more frequently. I’m going to write on the exact processes I used to call in deeper female friendships; exactly how you can use Feng Shui to find love (platonic or romantic); everything I do to navigate (so far) perimenopause; and lots more. I also have a few community challenges (where we go deep into a particular topic with homework and accountability) planned for this fall.

In short, we’re about to get really lit around here, so if you’re into practical spirituality and accessible, grounded wellness and mindset practices from a certified life coach and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner that work, get on in and take advantage of this 20% off sale until Sept. 22:

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Okay, so first things first: