New Year Goal: Unpack Your Mind, Finding a Vacation

🎭 A Three Voice One Mind Blog

Required Mental Baggage Purge Before A New Year

Having two highly opinionated and dominating voices in your head is annoying at best; But when you’re dealing with the headaches of the holiday season, the relentless push for New Year’s resolutions, and the sheer exhaustion of simply existing in late December (can you remember the last time you ate? Neither can we), that internal dialogue becomes a full-blown psychological crisis mediation session.

Welcome to the true CompassChaos13 style—a glimpse into my (Heather's) internal, probably eternal, highly opinionated voices that simply cannot be silenced. Which, honestly, fits this topic perfectly. We're here to talk about the New Year travel ideas that involve more than just booking a flight; we're talking about the deep dive into mentally unpacking after the holidays and embracing a No New Year's resolutions travel mindset.

Let’s meet the crew:

Me, Heather (Mediator ): The actual warm body trying to navigate toward a balanced destination and mental wellness without losing my sanity in the process.

Chaos (Wild Child): This internal voice sounds like a sugared up female chipmunk who is a brutally honest toddler with Lara Croft's adventurous spirit. She takes no shit and loves to discover everything.

Compass (Planner): The deeper authoritative voice of reason who is a professional paralegal/travel agent/historian, think highly professional female Indian Jones, who has the whole itinerary finalized before the thought even fully forms.

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With these two polar opposites, a yearly purge is required. Let the Purge Begin.

The Holiday whirlwinds finally slowed. Yet, society is already demanding that we "resolve" to have a mentally perfect new version of ourselves by January 1st.

What if we collectively decided to say F. NO! Instead we opted for a slow mindset instead of spiraling towards unattainable goals?

Let’s hear what my voices have to say about this …

Chaos: Resolutions? Not in my head. That word is just a socially acceptable form of self-harm & punishment. Who needs that baggage? Doesn’t the Universe bring us enough of that. The actual baggage we need to focus on is the mental clutter for the year or prior years taking up space. It’s heavy, and frankly, I am ready to burn everything since it’s not letting us move fast enough toward the next big adventure. For me, true mental clarity & peace is being able to take almost everything in my space pile it up, light a match and dance around it. This allows the majority of my space to be clear and to start afresh. Complete reboot no safety default!

Treat this mental purge like a real-life mission: identify the excess weight, and burn it (no evidence, oops… reminder). Forget resolutions. We need a post-holiday travel deal search that gives us that surge of adrenaline and actual discovery. We need the excitement of new possibilities and what if's to clear the head and get our heart skipping.

Compass : As you see Chaos is highly inefficient and lacks structure., which is why I am here. The term "baggage purge" requires a plan. You can't just run around throwing your dirty clothes all over the house. Just like you can just go shouting "adventure!" and take off. There is a need for logistics and planning to avoid burnout recovery travel and any regrets.

My historical data suggests that unstructured trips often lead to more stress. Not everyone can just grab their passports, a pair of undies and say Sayōnar without some guilt or stress attached (unless your are Chaos). The optimal strategy to use is, travel for mental health, begins just by looking, no booking. No expectations, pressure or stress from the start, this is what we call the “Look, No Book Unpacking Stage”

We are going to enlighten you on how travel can unpack most mental baggage when done properly.

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Look, No Book

Did you know that simply looking at destinations can boost your dopamine and adrenalin levels, while at the same time becoming a subconscious survival mechanism? Just looking; no booking; A picture, an article, a book, social media whatever… chemicals in your brain and body change. All the CRAP and regrets of the year(s) past that continually replays in your mind…just stops.

Chaos : Regrets?? Is that a new word or urban slang I don’t know about? I understand stress but not regret. The past is history, we take what we can from it and if you don’t burn all like me, you could look back on it but why? Compass you of all people know that history is written by the one who holds the chisel, which is normally by the winner of a conquest, but it is still not a prison sentence; a death sentence, maybe.

What I need is a positive future distraction(s) now. My space needs a break from the this is do …. that is do ….. you do this ….. are you going to do that and blah, blah, blah, blah…….. Which is why every year my annual purge pyre and dance circle. This allows me to clear space for where we end up next, not adding a never ending list of stresses. The only past the remains in my purge are the places, people, cultures and experiences we have been privy to be blessed by.

Compass: I must reluctantly concur with the core premise my companion makes; even if it is perhaps the most irresponsible logic I've heard all day. We are, to a degree, chemically numbing present pain with future joy. Just the mere thought of a possible vacation acts as a highly effective, non-prescriptive self-medicating, stress management tool. Understand, like anything that gives you a “high” looking for travel inspiration is addicting. The expression “Dear To [Always] Dream” comes to mind.

A simple act of looking at potential future travel—even just browsing possibilities—is statistically proven to reduce acute stress levels. This is not anecdotal; it is neurology in action.

The brain's reward centers are sparked by the anticipation of a positive stimulus. The release of dopamine—our primary motivation neurotransmitter (natural happy high)—commences when we visualize an itinerary or research a new destination, well before any transaction is even a thought. This chemical response provides the hope of new, positive experiences and encounters.

This psychological mechanism creates what researchers call a "mental buffer." It allows us to process current, high-stress events, such as a rough week of meetings, helping to reduce the physiological impact. The mere possibility acts as a cognitive anchor, making the immediate environment instantly more bearable and manageable. It's highly efficient subconscious self-maintenance.

According to positive psychology, these positive emotions (like hope and excitement) broaden your momentary thought-action repertoires, making you more open-minded, curious, and resilient. This "wellbeing workout" builds lasting resources to cope with negative emotions later.

The very essence of our being, even without a confirmed date, the simple, exploration of a possible future journey is a powerful, science-backed form of immediate self-care that is often neglected. 🥹

Looking for that next trip is how we practice true self-care travel and mentally unpack. It’s the just the start to the endless possibilities for a genuine mental holiday escape and burnout recovery travel.

With the start of our mental unpacking begun, let us take the next step in the process: clearing the way for our new journey. We can move from looking to choosing.

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Seek & You Shall Find

Choosing a vacation destination can act as a powerful tool to achieve mental clarity and is a proven stress reducer, primarily through anticipation, which shifts the mind from regrets to future-oriented, positive engagement. Research in psychology provides strong backing for this effect.

We are shifting focus from regret to active choice which is rooted in the power of anticipation releasing dopamine (we talked about this already). Studies show that the act of looking forward to an experience, such as a trip, significantly boosts happiness and overall well-being—sometimes even more than the trip itself. This process ignites positive emotions, according to the "broaden-and-build" theory of positive psychology. By expanding creative thinking and building psychological resilience to stress. Another step in mentally unpacking process; letting go is in the act of making a proactive choice, not the passive thought. Psychology Today agrees that visualizing the sights and sounds of the next destination engages new neural pathways and pulls your focus into a positive future possibility, rather than a negative past regret.

Let us hear the voices take on this….. 

Chaos: I’m only silent when I am pondering vacation possibilities and travel ideas. After that, well good luck Heather! I don’t have regrets but I do have I told you so, and there is NO WAY I am spending another year yelling at the both of you “told you we should have booked that ticket to Mongolia, It was a STEAL!!” I mine come on 3 months was plenty of time to plan before getting on the plane. 

Compass: Hold on, Chaos. There are reasons we didn’t spontaneously book that non-refundable, one-way ticket to Mongolia, by analyzing past year(s) 'reality.' We need to understand why we didn't take that trip (Was it budget? Was it energy? Was it a lack of PTO management?). Foresight gives us the mental clarity required to plan toward that Mongolia trip you have been squawking about since you saw a travel show on it. By defining our travel non-negotiables, we regain control. We use foresight and learn from the past planning failure to form a better decision. The decision itself is the tool we use to unpack.

It isn't about geography; it's also psychology. This step forces you to confront and clarify your past and current emotional & mental requirements and needs, which is the essence of mental unpacking, some things however, do need to be kept.

Our modern world dictates our schedules; this step reclaims autonomy. Allowing us to ask ourselves what we need/require based on our inner voices, not outside noise. Still allowing us to keep the “dream” alive before diving into the reality of financial responsibility. 

When weighing the pros and cons, don't dwell on past travel mistakes. Instead, reflect on past trips and apply the lesson(s) proactively. If you regretted over-scheduling last time, make "ample downtime" a non-negotiable for this trip. If you lost your wallet last trip, put some accounts on google wallet. 

When you filter that mental clutter, it isn’t just picking a vacation spot; you are administering your own internal evaluation.

We need to picture ourselves as both the impartial examiner and the satisfied recipient. Completing a comprehensive inner "Self-Alignment Certification", ticking off boxes sub-boxes labeled "Acknowledged Past Lessons," "Prioritized Non-Negotiables," and "Forging Truces Between Wants and Needs."

Your decision process becomes the seal of approval. By proactively applying lessons and ensuring all parts of your personality feel heard, you stamp that inner document with authority of your own approval. The result is a profound, earned clarity—an internal validation that confirms you are strengthening the mental muscle to make yourself self resilient & reliant, in all aspects of your life.

Now that we have played a travel seek & find (our version of hide & seek), we are primarily unpacked mentally to face a new year full of crap. The journey stops here, but only if you want it to. There are further ways to use travel to continue to unpack the mind. Such as,

• Scrubbing Digital & Travel Junk: We all have the emails, texts, social and photos that are a complete waste of space. Those really blurry photos that you can’t for the life of you figure out what the hell it is or the emails of places you have been but let’s be honest won’t go back to. Adios …. Allowing more space for those future adventures and in you daily life.

• Repacking with Intention: There are lessons, connections and destinations that are vital to mental stability. For this journey, consciously deciding what is truly valuable, then strategically repacking it for the future. Those lifetime enriching lessons taught us ways to handle lost wallets, cancelled airlines & poor hotel choices. Past vacation destinations that still have that exploration feel, those get put back in. Don’t ever forget, this is the most important, the Connections. This is the perfect time to re-connect with those that weren’t scrubbed.

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Heather’s Final Thought

Honestly, the mental stress of these two battling daily for dominance … it’s amazing I’m “sane” by psychological standards. Yes, I’ve been seen and cleared three times in my life, so far. My mental unpacking is …. ummm …. interesting, much like trying to pick & plan the next vacation destination. An amazing thing happens when I, open google travel, type in BOS (Boston) to ANYWHERE, both voices are silenced. As the browser loads I enjoy a reprieve from myself, and the human daily stress as well. When that browser finally loads, I hit maps and the whole world opens up at our finger tips; evoking a longer internal silence. It is in this longer silence, where the possibilities are endless, that I find true peace. Goddess only knows how the war over choosing of a destination will go this time.

30-hour travel day just to save $50, or a 5 a.m. flight with three 6 hour layovers; IS NOT a "steal" and won't feel like a steal when my bitchness levels are to the moon. I will physically rebel. Choosing a destination for the sake of saving a few bucks far does not out weigh my requirement for mental stability. My mental peace is non-negotiable.

I know my inbox will be unmanageable, just like my mind, if not decluttered, before I choose a new destination. There is something to be said about knowing what you did have and realizing what you will have. In a case like this, I realize my inbox and my mind would be much worse if I don’t clear it.

The voices rarely agree on anything, but they share this rare moment of collective wisdom:

The real work for the upcoming New Year isn't writing a resolution; it's clearing out the mental crap. The start to the fastest, most joyous way to do this required annual mental purge, is by looking to put an exciting future destination on the map.

That commitment to future rest and the deliberate trading of regrets for future action all dissolve into this simple truth: The letting go is in unpacking mentally as a travel action.

The world needs Chaos's brutal honesty to ditch the resolution nonsense, and requires Compass's logic and to make sure most of us don't end up lost between worlds without a direction.

We are going to challenge our readers to ONLY LOOK at travel images or articles; whatever and comment below if you thought or didn’t think about any stress or BS while you were just travel window shopping (honestly deposit if you find something worth value for price and time).

The world needs more open minds, doors, and hearts; not illusions. Our upcoming podcast is all about exactly that.

In our debut episode, dropping this Sunday January 4, 2026 we’re bearing it all—shame, humor, and the things that should not be told, from over 20 years in the travel industry and 30 countries visited.

Ready for the unfiltered truth about travel and life?

Get Ready To Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Or on your favorite podcast platform

This is not going to be your “polished travel” podcast…..

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“Live Life Thinking You Will Cease Tomorrow, Plan Your Life Thinking You’re Immortal. The Choices You Have in Front of You TODAY Are the Ones That Matter NOW” ~ Heather Original Quote

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