9 Simple Words That Helped Me Beat The Post Travel Blues
Finishing up a trip is hard.
I’m awful for it. I make it until about halfway through, then something in my head triggers. 6 days to go, 5 days to do, 4 days to go, the end creeps up on me subconsciously. I start thinking about what needs to happen at home, or the meetings I have planned on my first day back.
There is only one true solution to this, and that is to never stop travelling, but that is a unrealistic aim for most.
Anyway, things always have to come to an end at some point, that’s just the way they are. It might be leaving a city you loved, saying goodbye to a loyal travel companion as you part company or coming to the end of a tour.
The truth is you’ve got to get comfortable with coming to the end of things.
Mindfulness helps. I’ll share my adventures with meditation and mindfulness in the future. Here and now is the only reality, the past is gone and the future does not yet exist. Learning to take in and enjoy what’s around you is key to happiness.
But there is also a phrase that’s stuck with me for many years, and it always comes to mind when trips are coming to an end. I first heard it at the end of a holiday to South Africa back in 2013 and it’s been a comfort to me ever since.
“Don’t Cry Because It’s Over, Smile Because It Happened”
It’s simple, and you’ve probably heard it before, but read it again.
“Don’t Cry Because It’s Over, Smile Because It Happened”.
It’s the ultimate mindset shift. Stop feeling sorry for yourself that you’re travel time is over, start feeling happy that you had the chance.
Be grateful that you not only had the time and money to travel, but also your health, your nerves, that you are brave enough to get out there and see the world, that you live at a time when travel is even possible.
Sit and thank about all the wonderful experiences you’ve had on your trip. Whether that’s five days or five years. Don’t be nostalgic, longing for the days that have gone, just bring up each experience in you mind and watch it go by like a ship along the coast.
And when you see that experience, just quickly say ‘thankyou’ and move on.
Don’t Cry Because It’s Over….
….Smile Because It Happened
