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A day of travel mishaps ✈️
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💬 3:02pm: Taking off soon from Chicago. On the plane. I think I got the last seat - it’s packedddd 💬 3:03pm: I mean TO Chicago 💬 3:03pm: Idk where I am lol I was sitting on a plane on a runway in Dallas, Texas, when I wrote those texts to my friend — tired, confused, and in a haze. It was supposed to be a simple travel day: 2 flights, 1 carry-on, and a dozen podcast episodes on my phone that would make the hours fly by. My itinerary was as follows: Santa Fe, New Mexico —> Dallas, Texas (2-hour layover) Dallas, Texas —> NYC, New York But this happened to be a week when flights were being delayed & canceled on an unprecedented scale across the US. Air traffic controllers were understaffed, working without pay during the government shutdown. My simple travel plans quickly became complicated. As flight delays were announced (to audible groans at each airport gate), my 8-hour travel day stretched into 16 hours. After I missed my connecting flight (due to, you guessed it, delays!), my airline tacked on an extra layover. Now, my itinerary looked like: Santa Fe, New Mexico —> Dallas, Texas Dallas, Texas —> Chicago, Illinois Chicago, Illinois —> NYC, New York I ended up zigzagging across the country, setting foot in 4 different airports across 3 time zones. Needless to say, I was half-asleep by the time I arrived at my friend’s doorstep in New York City, where my midnight snack of french fries awaited me (✨ insert angel sounds here ✨). Boarding & debarking three flights in one day is overwhelming — just as switching between multiple tasks in one day can be overwhelming. Why? Because there are SO many steps involved. For me, every flight involved: finding the right gate, waiting in line to board, making my way to my seat, stuffing my carry-on underneath the chair in front of me, listening to flight safety instructions, taking off, sitting through the actual flight, white-knuckling my way through the turbulence of descent & landing… and then doing it all over again for the next flight. Now, let’s imagine you’re trying to complete three tasks in a day – say, washing the dishes, answering your emails, and preparing dinner. For every single task, there’s also a version of take-off and landing. It might feel like you need to switch operating systems or jump to a completely different part of your brain in order to initiate the next task. 👉🏽 If completing your to-do list is really hard for you, even though it seems like it “should” be easy — I get it, and I’m here to validate that your experience makes sense. Your brain might be overwhelmed by all the task-switching — and that’s not a flaw; it’s a feature of your wiring, a sign that you’re human. If my travel day had gone as planned, I would’ve preferred the original route, with minimal transitions — of course. Likewise, if you’re looking at your to-do list & wondering “how the heck am I gonna complete all this?!”, I wonder where you might minimize the stress of task-switching. Could you save 1 task for tomorrow, and focus on the 2 most important ones today? Could you give yourself more time between task 1 (washing the dishes) & task 2 (answering your emails)? What would support you in debarking & preparing to board the next plane (figuratively speaking)? Whatever you need to make your “travels” between point A & B smoother, this is your invitation to move at the pace of your nervous system. Talk soon, P.S. If you're feeling overwhelmed & burnt out, and need help taking care of your nervous system, I'd love to support you. I offer Nervous System Healing Intensives — three 90-minute sessions, using brain-body modalities (Brainspotting, IFS, EMDR) that go deeper than talk therapy & help you feel better, sooner.
Intensives are a type of short-term, accelerated therapy — for folks who are looking for something different than weekly therapy; who need longer than 50-min sessions to go deep & get to the root of the issue. 👉🏽 If you want to get an Intensive on the books, click here to book an intro call. P.P.S. Know someone who needs to hear this? Forward it along. New readers can subscribe HERE. I help highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults heal their nervous systems & connect with their authentic selves. 💗 Need a nervous system reset? —> Join me for a Calm Place meditation.
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Liz's Neurodivergent Letters
👉🏽 Subscribe for thoughtful, bite-sized emails — from Liz Zhou, a neurodivergent therapist — on how to take care of your nervous system & understand your brain.
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