Overcoming Anxiety as a Solo-Travelling Volunteer

If you have been inspired to embark on a solo travelling adventure of a lifetime, then you’re on to a winner! There are always some additional feelings that are associated with this type of life decision, both before and during your trip, such as happiness, excitement, contentment, apprehension, potential boredom, anxiety and stress; it’s a real mixed bag!  

Particularly if you want to volunteer abroad, it’s important to not let the emotions sway your decision though. This is an experience you will not regret, and the benefits truly outweigh not going. Instead, read your way through our top tips for overcoming both anxiety and associated issues as a solo volunteer which will also help you sleep more soundly at night in the runup to your trip of a lifetime. 

How to Stay Engaged  

Create a list: Do some background research on your upcoming destinations prior to setting off. You can educate yourself on some of the kinds of amazing and exciting opportunities you can enjoy as a volunteer when you are volunteering. 

You can get lost for hours by figuring out all the things you want to do, see and tick off your list. Take your list with you too, so that you can cross each accomplishment off. Remember, it’s a fact that keeping yourself busy is a definite way to counteract feelings of boredom and is better for your health! 

Ask questions: This is a good one while to note while you’re on long journeys. It’s amazing who you end up sitting next to/sharing experiences with when you go away. This is an awesome opportunity to soak up some knowledge on places you’ve never been to.  

A conversation is a wonderful way to pick up more information, ideas, learn about a destination, and it might even inspire you to try visiting somewhere else and extending your trip. 

Pre-filling your evenings: The nights can sometimes be tricky for solo travellers, depending on where you go. Having said that, if you are staying in hostels and shared accommodation, other volunteers are almost certainly going to want to talk to you and will gladly get you involved with what they are doing.  

So, have it in mind that you should fill your evenings with things to do, and don’t just sit alone in your room. Occasionally, it’s okay to get things sorted and chill out, but you’re there to soak in all things new and experience the world, so just go with the flow.  

In fact, Psychology Today states that the more spontaneous you are the less anxious you will be! 

Set yourself goals: If you set goals or kind of ‘mini-assignments’ for yourself, whether it’s logging a regular travel journal, creating a cool, classic-style scrapbook, or reading an assigned number of books, these are the types of things you can do to stay busy when you aren’t volunteering. 

You’ll constantly have that feeling of purpose which will help you to maintain your focus. 

How to Avert Anxiety  

Make new friends: As we touched on in one of the previous points, nothing staves off the sense of loneliness like being with other people and not being alone.  

Again, as we said, meeting people is easy when you’re travelling, especially if you’re in hostels, join organised tours, or volunteer, for example. 

Elect an emergency contact: Knowing that you have all the necessary precautions in place before you leave to go travelling can help with reducing the sense of anxiety.  

Choose an emergency contact and let them know before you go. You’re best served to keep their contact details info to hand wherever you go when you’re abroad.

It’s all about easing your anxious thoughts in the knowledge that someone is thinking about you and will be waiting to hear from you when you get back. For a lot of people, this helps to relieve those feelings of anxiousness.   

Apply self-care: Travelling and volunteering has the ability to throw out some of your regular routines, which can make you feel a little out of sorts, but it’s pretty cool!  

However, avoid letting your self-care slip. By this we mean, getting enough sleep, eating healthily and regularly and staying physically active. 

If you consciously take sufficient care of yourself while you’re away, it will make it notably easier to deal with any potential stressors that may pop up along the way.