How to Deal With Wanderlust (When You’re Stuck at Home)

Extreme wanderlust — the kind of acute pain in your chest that makes you fantasize about selling everything you own and caravan-ing across the Australian desert — is unfortunately an increasing problem in our modern world. With technology making it easier than ever to not only see glimpses of alluring, beautiful places (not to mention seeing glimpses of alluring, beautiful places that your friends are visiting without you), wanderlust can strike at any moment, be a little heartbreaking and be more than distracting. Here's how to deal.

Relive past trips

Instead of hopelessly gazing at photos of your friends' current vacations...why not take a trip down memory lane and think about your own past trips and adventures? Pull up the old folders of digital photos and flip through them, really trying to relive those moments. But don't stop there! Pull out your souvenirs! Go to the grocery store and try out a recipe of food you had on your last trip. If you've always meant to print out photos you've taken of far-off places to decorate your home but have never gotten around to it, now's the perfect time. Not to be sad about how you're not in those places now, but to celebrate the fact that you made it to those places at all!

Plan your next trip

Studies have shown that just even planning your next trip (whether or not you've got the funds or vacation days to pull it off) can really add to your happiness. So go ahead...plan that dream vacation. Pick out what hotels you'd stay at and what sights you'd see. Even come up with a budget that might help get you on that trip faster.

Do something supremely enjoyable that you can only do in your own home

Forget traveling! There are joys closer to home that are still ripe for the picking. In fact, chances are there are things about your home that you enjoy immensely that you can only do at home (and would miss if you were away from it) — so why not indulge in those things now? From throwing a get together to being lazy in your backyard, carve out time to appreciate the home you have when you're most itching to get away from it.

Get your friends who are traveling to send you specific photos/bring you back things

See if you can enlist your friends who are out traveling to take photos just for you or see if they'll bring you back something foreign and lovely or delicious. If you can't get to where they are right now, they might be willing to bring a piece of it back for you to enjoy — for a promise for you to do the same on your next trip!