Plan you way out of post vacation blues!

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You just returned home from a great trip and a heaviness, a dread, a sadness pervades.  Other symptoms include lethargy, lack of motivation, feelings of nostalgia.  Have you ever felt these?  The months ahead look bleak as you start returning to your normal routine.

This isn’t unusual and it is documented as a form of depression called post-travel depression.  Should these feelings last longer than a week or two, consult a professional.

In the short term there are things you can do to feel better.

  • First, deal with the chores that come with returning home as soon as possible. Unpack, do the laundry, go thru the mail, mow the lawn.  Getting them done will help you overcome the dread of having to do them.  Sounds easy, but getting yourself to do them can be a chore in itself.
  • Do something special. Go out for breakfast, have dinner with friends, go to a movie.  Little treats remind us that there are special things that happen in normal life too.
  • Get up, take a shower and get moving the first morning back. Just taking action and getting back to routine can help you move forward transitioning back to normal.
  • Get up, take a shower and get moving the first morning back. Just taking action and getting back to routine can help you move forward transitioning back to normal.
  • Start a book or watch a movie that takes place in a desired destination or is about the destination.
  • My favorite way to deal with return from a trip – start planning your next trip. Planning a trip for many provides its own form of excitement by focusing on what you need to take to make the trip happen.  Knowing that trip is out there provides a positive energizing booster to counter those negative feelings.

Having a travel plan, similar to a retirement or financial plan, helps make putting a stake in the ground for your next trip easier (see my post about traveling planning).  In addition to the excitement of upcoming travel, the accomplishment of having your travel goals become a reality gives an additional boost.   Should a next destination/experience feel too far away, consider a shorter getaway in the meantime, but if you are working from a travel plan make sure to factor in the impact to your next goal.

Travel should be about happiness, before, during and after your trip.  Take the steps you need to ensure that exists for you.  Call us to put that stake in the ground for your next trip.  The excitement builds as you start planning and talking to others about your next trip.  Sure helps those get rid of those blues!

Pat Ogle-CollinsPlan you way out of post vacation blues!

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