Re-Entry Transitions – Hitting the Real World After Vacation

We arrived home from Costa Rica retreat in the wee hours of the morning  Saturday and today I find myself suffering from mild ”re-entry transition condition”.  I have travelled long enough to know that there is always an adjustment period both in entering a new place and upon return.  To help support myself with proper self-care, I try to make sure  that I have at least one day, if not two, to ease back into reality.

Yesterday was my “do nothing but follow my body’s cues” day.  Although I had gone to bed at 3:30 am, I wasn’t able to sleep later than 10 am.  I got up, ate a light breakfast and simply puttered putting away the week’s worth of travel supplies.  After re-connecting with my family with stories of our weeks, the burn in my eyes and mild headache told me it was time for a nap.  Normally I don’t like to take long naps during the day as it makes it harder for me to go to sleep at night, but yesterday the two and a half hour nap was key to my recovery! 

The rest of the day was spent laying low and staying away from the pile of things I knew I needed to do for the week.  Resisting the urge to dive into my pile of “to-do” lists projects was naturally the biggest challenge but I’m happy to report aside from a quick email scan, I succeeded.

Day two of my transition is now geared towards catching up and getting essentials projects done so that I feel ready to go into the week without stress and rush.  Yes, that means that I’m not back on my computer and in the thick of a few work and household projects.  But just like my puttering in putting away the clothes and going through the mail helped ground me back to home yesterday, getting a jump on the week feels supportive in being ready to re-enter reality tomorrow.

Here’s a fun list of a few of my re-entry transitions:

• Transitioning from the tropical 80’s and sun of Costa Rica to the brrr cold of 21 degrees and snow.
• Sadly saying goodbye to the daily buffets of homemade vegetarian food at the resort to, gulp, having to cook my own food again – yes, this is the transition I like the least!
• Having to think about work and chores rather than simply deciding whether to take an adventure tour, lie on the beach, or read a book in the hammock.
• Hearing and speaking only English again.  It’s true that I still spoke a lot of English there because many in the retreat group didn’t speak Spanish; but I’m happy to say that I got several opportunities to improve my Spanish as well.
• Waking up to dark and the alarm rather than the singing of the birds and barks of the howler monkeys with sunlight streaming in at 5:30 am.
• Needing to actually style my hair again rather than allowing the humidity to give it a bouncy, cute doo effortlessly.
• Using oil on my skinfor the dryness rather than aloe vera to treat my sunburn – this one might be a good switch!
• Missing my fellow fabulous travellers and our wonderful daily conversations.

Hopefully my re-entry self care will make my transition back to the hustle and bustle of my “normal” life tomorrow smoother.

How do you transition back after being away of business or pleasure?