A three day festival is no joke. And if you don’t properly prepare yourself in the weeks leading up to it, you might find yourself struggling to survive. Literally. Whether your camping, commuting, or carpooling, here are 7 ways to ensure that you have the time of your life, both physically and mentally.
1) Get Some Sleep
I know it might be hard to sleep the night before due to your overwhelming excitement, but make sure in the weeks leading up to it that you are well-rested. Most events nowadays go into the A.M., and you need to have had a surplus of sleep so you don’t lose your energy halfway through the night. Also keep in mind that if you’re going to a camping festival like Coachella, it’s very rare to get a good night sleep when you’re neighbors are partying. There’s nothing worse than a friend who wants to go home early because they just can’t hang. Don’t be that friend.
2) Eat Energy-Rich Foods
There is no way to get through a long festival without a proper diet beforehand and during the event. Combating fatigue takes more than simply eating more. A lack of energy can be caused by a variety of things like dehydration or a nutrient deficiency. A great step you can take toward fighting fatigue is cutting down on sugar and rapidly digested carbs like breads and pasta. Instead pack protein rich foods like trail mix or almonds or healthy breakfast options to cook at your campsite like egg whites. And don’t plan on eating solely the food provided by the festival. No man can survive on pizza alone, no matter how much we want to.
3) Exercise
Exercising prior to an event can be beneficial on multiple levels. It allows you to increase your physical stamina when jumping up and down in the crowd and it puts you in the right state of mind. If you’re exercising specifically for an event, you’re bound to become more excited for it. People talk a lot about having the perfect EDC body, but that’s not what I mean. You don’t need to go out of your way to get six-pack abs, you just need to mentally prepare yourself for the physical side of the event.
4) Watch or Listen to Last Year’s Sets
Nothing will mentally prepare you more for this year’s event, than re-watching or re-listening to last year’s event. Almost every major festival from Ultra Miami to Electric Forest to Bonnaroo and Governor’s Ball has some kind of social media presence with live sets able to be streamed on Soundcloud, YouTube, or even their own websites. When you watch or listen to the magic that unfolded last year, it is almost impossible to not board the hype train for this year.
5) Plan Your Outfit
For some this is easy. But for others this takes months of preparation. Most of the time a festival is really whatever you put into it. The more effort you give to it, the more fun you’re bound to have. Maybe your group wants to wear matching Ninja Turtles costumes or maybe your trying to impress the fellas with your hand-made sequence bra. Either way, when you dress up, you have more fun. Trust me when I say that people will notice your glow-in-the-dark mickey mouse head. How can you not? And that little preparation beforehand will pay off big when you actually get there.
6) Plan Your Transportation
When you know how you’re getting to and from a festival, you have very little to worry about. This leaves more room in your head to have fun and better mentally prepares you for the event. Do you have a designated driver? Are you planning on using an Uber? Do the metro or subway lines run late enough to get you home safely? These are all questions that you need to ask yourself beforehand because we all know we’re not the best problem solvers at 2am after we’ve been partying all night.
7) Plan to Have Fun
This is the most important step to mentally prepare yourself for a big festival. You’re going for one reason and one reason only: to have as much fun as possible. If you don’t put yourself in the right frame of mind to do so, you might not have any fun at all. If you have papers to write when you get back to school, try and forget about them for the time being. If you just got laid off, enjoy the moment, then hit the job market when you get back home. There really shouldn’t be anything else on your mind and if there is, it might ruin the magic for you and the people around you. These festivals are truly an escape from reality, so I say embrace that fact 100% when you go. You won’t regret it.
