How to Cope With Returning Home from Traveling
You’ve done it- you have traveled the world and now are home. What a great experience huh? You’ll have memories you will keep forever and friends for a lifetime. But now many people wonder what the next step is. After you have told the same stories and the excitement of your return is over, what do you do now?
Coming home from traveling around the world is the hardest part. Coming hom produces many emotions: fear, sadness, joy, excitement, and anxiety. After the honeymoon is over and reality sets in, people are left feeling a little lost. You spent a long time preparing for the road, a long time on the road, and then suddenly, it’s over. Just like that. It’s as though someone slammed on the brakes to your life and, for many people, that can be kind of depressing. Coming home is more about coping mentally than doing anything.
Here are a few ways that can help you cope with those emotions and get yourself moving:
Stay Busy- If you sit around thinking about the good times, you’re only going to resent being home and get depressed. Go out, get a job, get a hobby, join a gym. Even if you are super psyched to be home, the first few weeks are always rough as you adjust back into “normal” society. It is important to stay active. One great way to stay busy is to be a tourist in your own city. Since you have been away for so long, things in your town will probably have changed a bit. Go explore your town like you would Paris or Sydney. You’re bound to find something new and you’ll be able to feel as though you are back on a holiday while adjusting to home.
Plan Another Trip- If the thought of staying home is killing you, get out! Plan your next trip. Even if you never go. Go look at new places to visit. Buy travel guidebooks. Plan a new journey. Look at flights. You’ll get in the mood and you’ll get excited. Even if your trip never materializes, at least you will be taking your mind off from the reality that it’s time to settle in one place for a bit. It makes coming home seem like a pit stop and not the finish line.
Get a Job- Getting a job ties into staying busy. By getting a job, you can take your mind off things and begin to put all your energy and new found sense of adventure to good use. It also helps you replenish your bank account so you can get to traveling again.
Read New Travel Blogs- If you aren’t traveling, someone probaly is. Live through them and get motivated for your next your journey.
Coming home from the road is about adjusting back into the world you left and focusing on taking what you learned and applying it to your daily life. Many long term travelers end up leaving again, afflicted by a virus that will never be cured. Others stay home because their trip taught them that what they wanted the most was what they left behind. We all come home and need to know how to cope with the post travel blues.
