I know it all to well how just being in a certain place can reduce your anxiety. It was Helsinki for me. I am from Moscow, and before coming to Helsinki I never even realized how much “background stress” I was experiencing just by being there, until I came to Helsinki for 3 days vacation.
It did not occur to me right when we landed, no, but I started feeling it when we sat in the taxi to our hotel. It felt like weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and if some hole appeared in me. It can be that it was also effect of medication, that I was taking at the time, that helping me recover from burnout (and helping with bipolar, too, although I did not know about it yet), but later when I …