Self care packing list

I know, I know. Packing for a trip is nothing new. There are tons of packing tips out there. Most of them revolve around clothes and navigating airports easily with your choice of luggage. These can be super helpful. But once you figure out your packing list you don’t need more of them. I get it. So why am I writing yet another blog post about packing? Self care.

When you have to put self care as a focus due to a chronic condition or because you need balance in your life, it’s something you have to consider when traveling. Actually, I think I spend just as much time thinking about packing for self care as I do for those Instagram moments clothes. Actually, I spend much more time on self care. All of this to say is this post will concentrate on packing to be well, rather than just cute.

Trip Essentials

Destination: Denver, Colorado

Where I’m staying: The Ramble Hotel

Trip length: Four days

Self-care packing list

This trip is going to be a quick one. For short trips like this, I tend to pack as light as possible. I used to pack in a duffel bag to make sure I get it on the plane. For these trips I now stick with a suitcase because it’s easier on my back. Despite having a suitcase, I try to minimize what I bring so that I spend less time packing/unpacking and generally dealing with stuff.

Clothes

I’ve got some business meetings on this trip so I’m planning to pack a pair of night pants, a skirt and a silky jacket for dinners. Although I want to look nice, I’m planning to pick items that are super comfortable and not fussy. Who am I kidding, I rarely wear anything that is fussy and never anything that’s uncomfortable. Though Colorado can be scorching out during the day, it can get downright chilly at night so I’m bringing an extra jacket. A pair of casual pants, comfy pants for lounging, a sweater and a couple of shirts will round out the clothes. For this quick trip, my comfy pants will do double duty for lounging and doing barre3 at the hotel. Since I’m having a flair, my skin is extra sensitive right which means everything I bring has to be super soft. I’ll be rummaging through my closet looking for the softest things I own.

Self Care

Sleep: Although I don’t always bring a sleep mask on short trips that don’t have overnight flights, my sleep has been so poor lately that this time I’m tucking one into my carry on. These days I’m using this washable silk sleep mask from Lunya. I’ve stayed at The Ramble before so I know that it’s pretty quiet but I’m not taking any chances with my sleep so I’m also bringing my Bose Noise-Making Sleep Buds. While they’ve been criticized for having a limited selection of sounds, I found one that I helps me fall asleep every time.

Physical: Given that I’m still recovering from pneumonia, my physical self care is more on the mellow side these days. I plan on doing 10-30 minutes of Barre3 using their online app from my hotel room each morning before my day gets started. The best thing about this activity is that I can stream it right from my computer and they have a ton of classes that don’t require any special equipment. This makes it super easy to stay active without adding heft to my bag.

Traveling on planes is hard on a body, especially when you have chronic pain. To ease my pain I always pack a water bottle. I found this fabulous little one while in Berlin for work and it’s become my favorite self care item. It’s so small it easily fits in my small carryon. Flight attendants are happy to fill it up and the water says hot for a couple of hours. At the hotel I use the coffee pot to heat water to ease my back pain after long days. It’s always on the top of my packing list.

Food: Most people probably don’t pack much food when they travel. Not me. Food is medicine to me so sometimes it feels like half my suitcase is food. I’ve been following the keto diet for the past three months. Keto is a controversial eating plan but it has really worked for me. I’m a wee bit nervous about this trip because it’s my first trip while eating this way. One of my favorite brands is Perfect Keto so I’ll be bringing a few of my favorite goodies with me: Perfect Keto Salted Caramel bar (for the plane and for breakfast), Perfect Keto Electrolytes, Chomps Beef Jerky (for travel) and a few packets of almond butter for emergencies. To support my physical health I’ll be bringing ashwaganda, Multi B vitamin, Selenium and Perfect Keto Blood Sugar Support (for dinners out when I don’t stay strict to the eating plan).

Mental & Emotional: Lately I’ve been doing a few things to support my emotional and mental well-being. This year I’ve gone back to reading a ton as a way to make sure I don’t check out to tv too often. I’ve read 29 books this year so far and my mental health feels so much better. I’ll definitely bring a book with me. To support my mental well-being I’ve been switching between doing morning pages and pulling a tarot card for the day. Morning pages are very simple: you write three pages long-hand of whatever is on your mind with no purpose. I find them very effective for clearing everything out of my brain, I’ve had many insights just by doing these. As for tarot cards, I’m not interested in whether they predict the future. Like morning pages, I use them to help me be introspective, to help me understand what I’m thinking about and where to focus myself. I use a journal for the morning pages and cards and a big book for tarot so I probably won’t bring both. Deciding which one to bring is the only big decision I need to make for packing.

So that’s what I’m packing from a self care perspective for my brief trip to Denver. How about you? What does your self care packing list look like?