5 minutes of meditation. It won’t solve the anxiety, but it will insert just enough perspective and space to help you recognize a couple things:

• you are not your anxiety, it’s more like weather that you’re experiencing.
• the things that you’re worried about may be real, but your experience of them is warped by the anxiety.

My therapist gave me a really helpful metaphor. Anxiety is kind of like putting your hand right in front of your face. It blocks everything else out. It’s all you can see. It’s all you can experience. While this isn’t the desired state, you also can’t get rid of your hand without losing a real part of yourself. So instead, what if you focus on inserting space. Move your hand further from your face, and it becomes an element of the environment. It’s a thing you can observe. It’s still real, and it’s still there, but it’s now more in perspective.

That’s what meditation, even 5 minutes, can do. It pushes your anxiety into perspective. It won’t get rid of it, but it will help you see it as an element rather than your entire experience.

https://pca.st/episode/a8bc145d-94d8-4c4f-b3c6-635e3f8e81e4

If Books Could Kill did a great episode on this. “Who Moved My Cheese”

As an American white dude traveling full time, I haven’t really gotten any of this yet personally. I have sat next to some really loud Americans and felt irritated at them, but the same goes for the British lady who walked into a cafe I was in and loudly insisted they make her a sandwich that wasn’t on the menu.

Most people are kind and curious. Those who aren’t, regardless of nationality, are the ones who irritate the locals.

Of course, the world is big and I obviously haven’t been everywhere. In each place I have been to, though, learning a few words and being extra polite goes a long way. Locals welcome you and return the curiosity and respect.