Bringing the treasure from travel and celebration into our everyday.
How quickly we return to our everyday lives with that big experience that we thought about and anticipated for months turning into mere memories. It shouldn’t surprise me at this stage of my life as I have felt this over and over. I’ve been back home for two days and still in the fog of jet lag and trying to figure out where I am! I sit in this tension of wanting to linger in the experience of our trip longer while wanting to dive forward into all the projects and plans that I had put off until after our return. Add in the daily realities of laundry, food requirements and catching up on emails to the swirl too! As much as this is a time of adjustment, it doesn’t feel like an anticlimax though. I thought it would.
Travel, connecting with new people, big celebrations and creating memories can buoy us up for the next season or leave us feeling hollow in our ordinary lives. It’s a matter of perspective. We can pin our hope for joy and fulfilment in these big experiences. Or we can enjoy them but find deeper, lasting joy in our everyday moments, knowing that we are exactly in the place we need to be. We can rely on those high tides of emotions to feel alive. Or we can seek out the fun, gratitude and adventure in the mundane.
As I get back into my usual routine over the next week, I don’t want to lose the treasure from my time away. The time at the conference energised my passion, thinking and dreams once more. The time with my family in Disney World reinforced some of the reminders from the conference that I can have fun, take risks (I went on some rollercoasters and thrill rides that I would normally always say no to!) and enjoy the beauty of imagination and creativity. Growth comes from integrating these experiences and shifting my thinking and actions to be more focused on living these things out day by day.
Think back in your own life to a time of travel or celebration. Maybe it was recently or maybe it was a long time ago. What was your experience of returning to daily life? Maybe this week you can spend some time reflecting on what you experienced on that trip or as part of that celebration and think about what you could incorporate into your daily life now. How can you have some fun, bring some adventure and rekindle some passion in this day?
