Readjusting

After the honeymoon of coming home has worn off, you are going to start noticing some differences around you. You don’t feel like you are at home when you are at home. The once familiar streets and life seem to have changed. Even your friends seem different. Just like you, they have changed as well.

Readjusting is important to get back to your ‘new’ life style. You may have a big challenge ahead of you. There are lots of old established patterns or ruts that you can fall back into. You are now a different person with new experiences and perceptions. This is an opportunity to start again, and not fall back to what you were, but to keep growing. Do not try to fall back into your old lifestyle of who you were before you went travelling. Keep up the effort and make something new in an environment you already know.

Every day, you were adapting to new stimuli and challenges, why not keep using that skill to adapt back to your home? It does not have to feel the same as it did before you left. Take a walk down the street and see everything again for the first time, but this time, you don’t need a guidebook or a back pack. Take in everything; just like when you were backpacking. If something is interesting, explore it. There is no fear or apprehension. Compared to what you experienced overseas, this is easy. This time your new activity can be something more long term since you will be staying here for a while.