Trip Clarity: The Best Souvenir I Bring Home

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I’m writing this in my notes app on the way to the airport after a quick visit down to Florida to visit my family for Easter. 

Last night, I was pondering what to write about for my newsletter this week, and I decided to take my own advice and document something I’m already doing, rather than creating something new. 

That’s how I landed on today’s topic—something I like to call “trip clarity.”

Every time I travel, no matter how long the trip, I always walk away with some epiphany about something in my personal or work life. 

Everything just becomes clearer. 

It’s how I ended up on my health journey this year and inspired my business pivot to what it is now. 

I have a few theories and observations from my own moments of trip clarity over the last year that I’d like to share. 

For one, our brains have space to breathe. When we travel, we’re out of our everyday routine and don’t have the stress that comes with it. 

It frees up our mental capacity to think about other things when we don’t have to worry about cooking dinner, going to the gym, or any other aspects of our routine that we follow when we’re home. 

I also think breaking out of the routine has something to do with it. I never try to stick to my routine when I’m on a trip. No alarm (unless I have to get up). No morning pages. Usually, no additional exercise is required (unless it involves walking around). This usually allows for more novelty in my days and will enable me to do different things. For example, this last week, I replaced my usual workouts with time outside by the pool. 

Breaking the routine works out in my favor. It’s not only a break for me physically, but for me mentally.

You have time to reflect and ponder. Your mind can wander more than it can when you’re in a routine. You have more time to think about the “what ifs” and explore various scenarios. I always find that when my brain isn’t thinking about the problem at hand, the solution appears seemingly out of thin air. 

You have a chance to exhale and disassociate. You can slow down and take the time to think, rather than rushing to decide because you need to move on to the next thing. 

Secondly, it gives you a new perspective. Whenever I go visit my parents, I leave behind my urban setting for something slower and more rural. It’s quiet, with the most noise you hear being a car passing by or birds singing. It’s peaceful and nice. 

A change of scenery offers a fresh perspective and stimulates the brain. It provides a new perspective on a problem or presents an option you hadn’t considered before. And most of the time, all it takes is to get out of your bubble. 

The best epiphanies and “aha moments” have come from switching up the scenery around me. It’s amazing because I’m able to quickly come to solutions for problems I’ve been trying to solve for months. 

Many of my epiphanies have come from a phrase someone said or seeing something that acted as a mental cue. All it takes is one spark to ignite a decision that can totally change the trajectory of everything. 

The answers I come up with are always so obvious and instinctively feel right. I almost never second-guess any decision or clarity I come to on a trip. And it always turns out to be the right move. 

Lastly, you figure out what’s worth prioritizing. Most of the time, my trip clarity is related to work. However, when I went to Greece last year, my trip clarity was primarily for my personal life. 

What I realized is that it was something I needed to prioritize, having been neglected for so long. But I don’t think that realization would have come without being away from my routine. 

When you’re away from it all, you have a better sense of what’s essential to you. You’re away from the grind and have to think about what success means to you and what things you want to focus on to be the best version of you. 

And sometimes that means putting your work life on the back burner and focusing on your personal life. 

The other thing I learned is that trip clarity gives you what you need, not what you think you want. 

It operates solely off instinct. You don’t get caught up in trying to think your way out of it logically. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, your instinct knows you better than your brain does. And when your brain’s not working overtime, like during your daily routine, you have time to let your instinct take the reins. 

Trip clarity is one of the things that makes me excited to go back home and get back into my routine. I have the direction I need to take action, and I’m refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. 

Now, I almost never come back from a trip wishing it was longer because I have something to look forward to when I get home. 

What about you? Do you feel like you gain a sense of clarity when you’re away? Reply to this email and let me know! 

Creative Corner

• 🎞️ What I’m Consuming: Lots of 2000s throwbacks—She’s the Man, Step Up, and Raise Your Voice

• 💡 What I’m Loving: The sun! Being out by the pool is getting me SO excited for the beach this summer

• 🎨 What I’m Working On: Catching up on memory keeping from the last few months

• 💭 Weekly Musing:

Thank you 💕

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I’m so grateful for all of your support!

Alexa Phillips is a writer, brand strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder of Bright Eyes Creative, a Seattle-based brand consultancy and media company that helps founder-led consumer brands and creatives design brand experiences and media.

Where to find me:

• Learn more about my services 

• Listen to my recent podcast episodes.

• Follow along as I build Culture Slant, a new magazine + podcast at the intersection of brand, marketing, media, culture, commerce, and technology.

• Join Write Club, free weekly 90-minute co-writing sessions dedicated to helping you knock out all the content you have to write for your business.

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