When I finally got around to doing my 2022 review, I realise how much of a roller coaster this year had been. War was raged on Ukraine, a country that is essentially next door to us, the economic situation got worse and the fear of these things grew and grew.
Covid left me with terrible anxiety about travelling. Money anxieties and fears have their grip on me constantly (though I’m not sure I’m over that given there’s an economic crisis happening…) I had to stop reading the news because the endless deluge of utter catastrophe was not helping my state of mind.
I grudgingly worked through my 2022 review because I wanted to see what good things had happened, and what I’d worked through – because it couldn’t have all been terrible, could it? After all, I was able to go to Budapest in October, whereas at the beginning of the year I had anxiety about doing a trip just over the boarder to Austria that was organised for me… So somehow I overcame something.
I took little steps towards getting out of the house again after lockdown times. That is the only way I seem to be able to do anything these days – by taking the little steps. I had even made this doodle to remind myself of this a long time ago.
Step 1 for getting over this anxiety about traveling was to go on a day trip – get out of the city and go for a lovely walk with friends. A day trip was a nice small step that was manageable at the time.
Step 2 for getting out the house was to look into a work trip, where all the travel details and accommodation was organised for me. As an English teacher, I am able to do the occasional ‘fun English week’ at public schools, and it just so happened I was able to do one in Austria.
I live in the Czech Republic, which shares a boarder with Austria, so it was only one country over – and I didn’t have to worry about the logistics of booking everything. Saying yes to this work trip was incredibly stressful and I must have gone back and forth on the idea a dozen times – but I eventually made it, and it went smoothly (okay, I got really sick for a while afterwards because I hadn’t seen people for two years, but still).
Step 3: Family visit.
I was able to travel to Germany to visit family for the summer holiday – this was another small step because I only had to sort out transport to get there, and I was able to stay with my family so that I didn’t have to figure out accommodation.
Step 4: A week holiday in Budapest. So finally I felt capable to meet up with my sister (who lives abroad) in Budapest. For me this was a train trip there and a bus trip back – no flights, less anxiety. And I also had someone to help organise the trip – not everything was on me, which helped a lot. Budapest was fantastic – it’s such a big city and I made sure to hit all the international restaurants for some better Asian food than I can get in Brno.
Step 5: still to come
I reckon that my next step will be to get on a flight. I have barely flown anywhere in Europe, especially since half of my time here was during the covid era. One day I will get back on an international flight and go somewhere, and I’ll face those anxieties as they come.
