Beating the blues
* post travel
Anyone who has travelled can attest that post travel blues are the absolute worst! Holiday problems, like, missing a flight or needing to book last minute accommodation seem stressful at the time but are quickly replaced by amazing travel memories! So why do we get so down when we come back to everyday life? It’s because of comparison, ‘the thief of joy’. Our regular, money earning lives, seem so boring compared to those holiday versions of reality. And we can’t order a cosmopolitan cocktail at 3pm everyday anymore 🙁. Eventually, we adjust and get back into the flow of the 9-5 but it definitely takes a couple of weeks.
There are a few ways listed below that you can banish those blues:
✨Find new places in your current city✨
Chances are when you come home from travelling you bring that excitement to discover new things with you. Use that feeling to explore the city that you are currently living in, with new eyes! Get out and find a new hike that you can do on the weekends or a hidden café that serves the best pancakes you have ever had. Or just pack a picnic and go on a short road trip, this will help keep the spontaneity alive & you can start to enjoy where you live instead of just ‘waiting’ for the next holiday.
✨Document all the good times✨
If you are a tech savvy millennial you most probably came home from travelling with a few thousand photos or more. One way I love to get rid of the blues is to find a creative way to process all the amazing memories I have through organising the photos. Making a video montage of photos set to a few songs that remind you of travel, making a scrapbook or getting some of your faves printed. It’s a really nice, and usually cheap, way to look back at the time you had. Then when you pick it up after a while the same memories come flooding back to remind you of all the fun that was had!
✨Invest time in making some new friends✨
I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with your old friends, but if you have been travelling or living away for an extended period of time it can be tough to reconnect with friends you had before you left… which is naturally devastating. But it can also be an opportunity to spread out and find new friends with similar interests. Who knows you may meet your next travel buddy? I started out by using Bumble BFF, with limited success. I also used Facebook, if you search your city + meetup there will be at least 5 different groups you can join. But, keep in mind you will only get out of it what you put into it. When I moved to Sydney I jumped headfirst into the group and met a whole bunch of really interesting great girls. If you constantly flake or don’t go to any of the events you won’t have any opportunity to meet new people.
✨Learn something new✨
It’s seems to be the answer to everything, just pour your heart into something new. But in this case, it’s actually pretty sound advice. Say that you just came back from Italy and you fell in love with eating Cannoli’s which is completely fair… Why don’t you take a day, jump on YouTube watch a bunch of tutorials and learn how to recreate them yourself! Just because you left a country you love doesn’t mean you can’t bring elements of it home. The same goes for continuing to learn the language. Babbel, Duolingo & Drops are all really good options for language! And they are free which is great because you probably spent all your money travelling, didn’t you? 😜
✨Spend time on yourself✨
Take time to care for yourself, if you are on a holiday you are running at 120% energy all of the time. Plus, there is all the extra foods & drinks & late nights. All of which are a great time but can take a huge toll on the body. If you don’t take care of your body it can definitely add to feeling low, post travel. Getting back into a routine, eating well & moving will help you get back into the swing of things & have you feeling much better in a short amount of time.
If all of those ideas fail, get planning on your next travel. Watch videos, read guidebooks, figure out your wish list! That’s sure to motivate you to save so you can get back on that plane ASAP.
Love, your friendly redhead.
♥️♥️♥️
#awanderingredhead