One Day I ’ll Fly Away, COVID Permitting

With Fall in full swing, many of us are asking “when will I begin to live my life again?” Life involves traveling, yet 2020 was the worst year in tourism history, with 1 billion fewer international arrivals than 2019. And now, after an optimistic summer, travel bookings for Labor Day were down 15% from 2019, indicating that the Delta variant dissuades people from traveling. Still, getting away is a human need, and an economic need. In a recent press release, the U.S. Travel Association urges everyone to vaccinate, for their own protection, and “to help put us on the path to full recovery.” Why then are people, including the fully vaccinated, staying put? I blame learned helplessness. Eminent psychologist Martin Seligman coined this term as he noticed that “…uncontrollable events can significantly debilitate organisms: they produce passivity in the face of trauma, inability to learn that responding is effective, and emotional stress in animals, and possibly depression in man.” For more than a year we stayed at home, schooled online, wore masks outside of home - and COVID did not stop. No wonder we are helplessly giving up on things that we could still do, like air travel. For me, coming from the world of psychology and behavioural economics, the matter of air travel is settled with four questions. The first questions are answered with data, facts and figures. But the last two, only with emotio...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: confidence creativity featured health and fitness philosophy covid experience happiness travel Source Type: blogs