I felt so blessed for traveling for the first time in 18 months. Traveling in COVID times is such a unique experience. I will write about that soon. What I want to talk about today is the week after my trip.

Being so committed to my rituals in January, traveling for 5 days at the end of the month was such a shock to my system. For example, during the trip I switched from sleeping at 11pm to going out at 11pm which felt so natural in a fun trip. However, I started feeling the impact of those fully scheduled days and late night as soon as I got into my bed back home. My body responded with aching muscles and fuzzy thinking all throughout the week until I got the chance to sleep as much as I wanted over the weekend few days later.

I did not like it took me this long to feel ok again, so I decided that before my next trip-whenever that may be- I need to set up some kind of a recovery system to navigate my way back to my rituals and habits. A must do is taking the day after returning from trip off no matter how early the plane arrives. If I did that this time instead of going to work next day, I would have had a faster recovery. I also had 2 family related gatherings during this same week were very important but stretched my zombie week. When I travel again, I’ll try to free all the week after from any social commitments if at all possible.

I wonder if you have rules you follow to get back into your productive routines after trips. Share your advice with me in the comments or by email bardees @ bardeessmairat.com.