Hi all,
I am reading the whole post, but got impatient after some bored/sad approaches that urge me to write, probably very long, hopefully not as boring as some’s vision of the reality shock once back. No kidding, I feel terrible reading about anyone having a hard time about this! (Edit: finished reading...)
After 11 months travelling and two and a half of work routine, things seem to go quite good/great for us… at least until now. So,
I would like to provide an optimistic approach, focusing on the bright side (of life… whistle, tutu-turu-turu-tutuuuu, always look at the briiiight side of life…).
It’s true that we (especially me) are in general very optimistic:
it is never too late to be disappointed/annoyed/pissed off, so why should you start too soon and/or unnecessarily to worry? (for those soon coming back, please!). After some analyse I’d say this is our approach, which actually
sounds like a “self-help” book, but true in our case. Hopefully it helps, no one deserves to be disappointed when coming back home:
1)
THIS IS A NEW STAGE in your life, so get the best of your experience to make things better now at home. Start from ZERO and/or improve everything you have always thought of: new trees in the garden, DIY floor in the kitchen, comfy sofa with a nice lamp to read your travel books, join a ping-pong club, study a new language!
Do not just sit in the couch thinking “life if boring here”, otherwise you would be boring element.
2)
Your friends, family, colleagues look the same as when you left, time did not pass at all for them? Boring conversations? -> NOOOOOOO, these are your friends, man, they haven’t changed and do not take you as a stranger, that would be much worse!
They are just like that, you knew it before. So, enjoy the time with them, the same
in the same pub. Isn’t it nice to be back home (imagine a never-ending trip eating crap and suffering turista every now and then!). Do not put them off at all, just
consider other parallel plans and count with them if they want to join (HUBB meeting, trip to the Lakes District, learning to sail, etc). You changed, so be smart and
adapt yourself.
3)
People do not really understand what you do? -> So what? It’s nice to have endorsement, but do you really need it? It’s your time and your money, so you spend it as you like it best, so do not even argue it. “Do I ever criticise the money you spend in Italian shoes and silk ties? Same”. Ah, I talk a lot (look the length of this post!), but I seldom speak about any trip (my friends actually complain about that) and almost never show photos (just too lazy).
Tell funny anecdotes, forget about moral lessons about poverty, people get really bored (I myself find really boring listening to people enlightened b/c of a trip to Rishikesh in India, for instance).
4)
Analyze how the trip has changed you: are you now more temperate after you dealt with corrupt border officials? Does it help you in everyday life? Are you maybe a funnier and better story-teller?
5) Don’t you actually feel like stopping your nomadic life and resting for a while (
sitting in a sofa is great pleasure, isn’t it?).
But start planning: A)
short trips, as said before, you are still on the move! B) maybe another
long trip: keep it
as a goal/motivation, but not in the shortest term.
You are not trying to flee, ok? Life is routine, that is why spare time is soooo valuable… and (a) year(s) off so great. Welcome the nice side of routine.
6)
Do not over-dream, nor“over-dramatize”. You may plan to write a book… but not to become a full-time writer, let’s say. Your friends are not that simplistic, nor idiot. Just regular good fellas and your only true friends.
7)
Get a lot in HUBB and the like, your link with that previous/other life. Everyone knows it well: you’ll be happy to help others, meet many others like you (among the best things of internet!) and will detach your thoughts about camping/visas/mechanics progressively. And join a HUBB community! (I just did, but still have to meet the chaps!).
But this site cannot be your only "refuge", get out to have a with friends! Once again, I am amazed about how nice/honest people in here get to be, really.
8)
IF YOU ACTUALLY DID NOT LIKE YOUR PLACE and/or LIFESTYLE before your trip: maybe you feel like moving abroad for a while? Well, maybe time to give it a try. Or change job (hard now, I know it well).
I once felt that way (aka bored/sad) at some extent after the 1st year abroad (NGO time in SA, really disappointing approach to poverty and then lots of fun as Erasmus student in Germany), so completely understand it.
But based on that, this other vision is our antidote and works well for us. It helps we both have before and after meeting lived some years abroad (8 and 6), so it is probably less of a shock as it happened already several times.
In our case, it was great to
travel a little shorter and make a progressive return to routine. We spent more than a month in Spain, our loved country (hard to come back while the economic crisis lasts! sadly). So went for the safe bet: my gf getting her previous job back and me, miraculousely mine as well, so avoided the hard time sending CVs. So came to Switzerland 10 days before to get everything ready to start to live/work in here.
If you start thinking that it will be horrible when you come back, sure it will be.
Anticipate a great time and probably it will be even greater. The most important thing is to survive the trip back and enjoy regular life.
PS: Don't think of the one who writes as an "iluminati" or hippie-peace-and-love, just a very regular, even classical, guy. It's only like being sad when starting to work after summer holidays... hold on, you had a great time, think like that!
66Likes
Linear Mode
