How to Face the Post-Travel Blues?

The post-travel blues is not an easy phase, but it is just a step in the larger process of returning. After presenting you with the why and how last week, it's time to tackle the big issue and answer the major question you often ask me:

How to combat post-travel blues?

Here are my tips for experiencing your return as smoothly as possible, navigating the crisis period... and bouncing back!

The first thing to do is to keep in mind the concept of re-entry shock, and to visualize this process with its various stages. If today you feel sad and tired, maybe tomorrow you will feel more active, enterprising, and confident about the future.

The return from travel can be divided into 3 phases:

Here are my 15 tips as a psychologist traveler to help you navigate these 3 phases.

Here are 6 tips to help you anticipate your return and minimize the effects of post-travel depression. Because prevention is better than cure!

A great opportunity to remind yourself of the positive aspects of home that you have missed and to mentally move towards this new phase, thus planting the seeds of your projects.

Projects, let's get to that! This can involve creating short-term projects such as:

But also medium or long-term life projects such as:

Reestablishing an active life is a crucial step in reintegrating into society and reducing the feeling, present in many travelers, of no longer belonging to their original environment upon return. And an active professional life means income... and thus the means to realize new projects. It's better to have all this clearly in mind before heading back.

If you have the opportunity, this buffer time in your schedule will help you land more gently. A period just for you, with no obligations, whether it is returning to work or studies, or visiting friends and family. Take this time to regain your footing and do what you enjoy:

This advice can have a significant impact on how your return is felt emotionally, especially following a long-term journey. For example, returning in spring or summer means arriving home bathed in sunlight (or nearly?), with a (more) blue sky and often more relaxed and smiling faces. Others might prefer to return in December to enjoy the year-end holidays with loved ones.

This advice is particularly aimed at travelers who hope to find answers to all their questions on the road.

For some travelers, setting off on a journey feels like a much-needed distance from an environment and lifestyle that no longer align with their deeper aspirations. They hope to find, in addition to peace of mind, answers to their big question.

What am I going to do with my life?

While some may find beautiful ways to flourish and delve deeper into their tastes or talents on the road, most will return with a personal reflection that is, at best, more complex and profound than when they set out, but not necessarily with an answer to their question.

If you recognize yourself in these lines, I have 2 pieces of advice for you:

Being aware of the difficulty allows you to avoid it. (Lao Tzu)

Knowing what awaits you is the best way to prepare for it. And that's exactly what you're doing! By educating yourself about re-entry shock and post-travel blues, you're equipping yourself with knowledge that will be very useful. It will enable you to distance yourself from your emotions and observe them more calmly.

By providing yourself with a framework to reflect, you can more easily find the words. Identify what you are experiencing. And then, by reading all these tips, you have all the cards in hand to be sensitive to your inner world and implement concrete actions that will help you navigate the return phase as smoothly as possible.

The first moments right after returning from travel can be very emotionally taxing. A bit like just after a breakup or a loss. Here are 3 pieces of advice for the early moments of return.

This time of listening and internal unification will allow your body and mind to land, a phenomenon that is not always very synchronized! Just because your feet have left the plane doesn't mean your mind and heart are in sync. The first step is thus to listen to this inner difference, allow it, and simply give yourself time.

Returning to your apartment, your room... this can feel reassuring, but also terribly destabilizing. The impression that nothing has changed yet everything is different. Because the eyes that observe have evolved with this wonderful trip you just took. Sometimes, reclaiming your bearings also means reappropriating them.

For example, unpacking your bag becomes an opportunity for a general tidying up. Almost systematically, every time I return, I do a drastic sorting of my wardrobe. I remove all those clothes that I keep for sentimental value but that no longer fit me or have become too old, those that I haven't worn in months or even years... And everything that is still in good condition, I donate. Double satisfaction: a more zen space and happy recipients!

When we return, sometimes we want to blame the whole world: it was better before, it was better there; here is ugly, polluted, monotonous... By continually criticizing the present moment and praising the past journey, we risk a growing misunderstanding from those around us. And that's quite normal.

Instead of blaming the world, what if we acknowledged that all these emotions we have, our anger, our distress, our feeling of being destabilized, lost... mostly stem from our sadness, our difficulty in turning the page and accepting that the journey is really over?

The second phase of return: the one where you get out of your duvet to take control of your life again. Here are 6 tips for getting into action.

After pampering yourself, it's time to open up to the outside world. For some, this step will happen very quickly; for others, starting to see people takes more time.

Because seeing your loved ones also means accepting to talk about the journey in the past tense, and thus accepting that this entire adventure is behind you. It also means being ready to answer a thousand times the same superficial questions: how was your trip? or did you have a good time?

At this stage, it's important to shake yourself up a bit to get into a good dynamic!

This can manifest in many different ways: signing up for a sport, starting the search for a job and/or housing, working on a language or cooking project, dedicating your time to a nonprofit or community service that aligns with your social, environmental, etc., values... By doing this, the traveler creates a new routine of sedentary life that suits them and in which they feel good.

To avoid being fixated on the past, nothing is better than looking to the future! After taking care of your routine and therefore your present, it's time to start planning your future, and thus creating projects that you enjoy...

This also means, just for example, thinking about your future travels! And you don't necessarily have to think too big right away: some outings to closer destinations can help you stay connected to your travel desires while rediscovering your country and its surroundings.

Let's imagine that travel is an important passion for you (once again, just for example), you can maintain that connection after your return in various ways:

This last option has several advantages: working on the passion and social aspect. Killing two birds with one stone! It also allows you to meet people who can understand what you have experienced and what you are currently going through. No, you are not alone in experiencing post-travel blues, and this video proves it!

Trust yourself and have faith in life. If these days are not rosy, tell yourself that it will change and that things will get better. Remind yourself that you have within you what you need to realize your dreams and bring your projects to fruition. And tell yourself that yes, being happy even when not traveling is possible!

Smile and trust in your adaptability: it has served you well on the road, and it will continue to support you even upon your return!

Sometimes, emotions overwhelm us. Sometimes, a situation surpasses us. We don't know where to start or which direction to take. Sometimes, we are lost. And that's normal! Imagine living a life on rails, never asking questions and already knowing what the entire journey looks like. That would lose all its interest!

If we ask ourselves all these questions, if we feel such strong emotions, it's because we are free. A wonderful gift from life... but also a huge responsibility to bear.

In short, sometimes we feel faced with a wall too high for us. In such cases, don't hesitate to seek help. Whether it's a friend, for instance, a fellow traveler who can understand what you are going through, or professional assistance. As a psychologist and life coach, I help travelers during transitional moments or reflections. I help them navigate their path and achieve their personal goals.

After these 15 tips, if you were to take away one idea from this entire article, it would be this: send yourself plenty of love. Be patient, tolerant, understanding, welcoming, and kind to yourself and your emotions. You may experience emotional roller coasters upon your return from your trip, with a transition from one stage to another that may not be linear. And that's perfectly fine.

Allow yourself these moments of joy and sadness! Allow yourself these moments for reflection and pampering! Allow yourself to believe in yourself and your future with enthusiasm!

Many good and beautiful things await you.