Travel Tip Tuesdays: Dealing with Post-Trip Depression

Do you ever get depressed after coming home from a trip? How do you deal with it?

Even though I’m always glad to be reunited with my family after a trip (especially after coming home from Europe), I often find a melancholy slipping in on me as I return to my daily routine. Post-trip depression is common even from smaller vacations or even weekend getaways. Here’s my best advice for dealing with it.

Even at home, you can still make food and take pictures
of yourself looking "profound" next to it. My friend
Cakesniffer and I are proof of this.

Give yourself a proportional amount of time to readjust. For a weekend trip, take the final evening off. For a six-week excursion, give yourself at least two or three days. Been traveling round the world? Forget doing anything normal for two weeks after getting home. Get back into the rhythm of being at home before trying to return to a job or your normal action-packed routine.

Focus on doing things that you can’t do when you’re traveling. When I came home from Europe, I made a big batch of yogurt, attended church again, and played piano (but not at the same time). Some things may not be as exciting as singing “The Sound of Music” while hiking in the Alps, but try to focus on what you enjoy about home.

Accept that people have changed. If you don’t see your friends and family for a while, they change, often an alarming amount. This is one of the hardest things to get used to when I return home: the subtle changes I notice in the people I’m close to. The sooner you realize that people change— and that’s okay— the sooner you’ll adjust to being home.

Accept that most people don’t actually want to hear about your trip. Sure, many people will ask, “How was your trip?” Come up with a one-word reply, such as, “Beautiful,” “Inspiring,” or “Life-changing.” Most people will then say, “Great!” and move on with their lives. Very few people actually want to know. It’s ridiculous to travel for reasons of pride: it’s so much better to accept that the trip shaped you and was wonderful for you. If nobody ever hears about it, that doesn’t make the trip any less important or special. An expectation of fanfare crashes hard. If you want a big hullabaloo about your return, you have to make it yourself. I find it better to subject only certain members of my family to my photo album, and leave the rest of the people to my one-word reply. If they want to know, they can ask more questions— or just read my blog!

Be flexible. My travels have taught me that you have to constantly adjust to your environment. That includes being home. You still have to seize the day, enjoy the moment, and look for opportunities to learn and experience new things. The little joys and opportunities are all around us, no matter where we are. Sometimes, you just have to create your own adventure.

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