7 Tips For Unpacking After A Life-

​Changing Trip

 
Think about all the time you spend preparing for a trip.

The planning, the itinerary, the packing.
​
But when you come back… how much thought and planning do you put into
​
“unpacking”?

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By Tanya Pinto
Consultant
Shakti Consulting 
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In the last 12 years, my trips all over the world have been for a very specific purpose. I travel so that I can find and help vulnerable children – working on behalf of my own small nonprofit – Baal Dan. I travel mostly to India and in the last few years have also been to Africa and other parts of Asia. My trips are full of adventures and are very much off the beaten path in search of wonderful small grassroots projects and orphanages that I feel that I can help – through the provision of funding, supplies or whatever else is needed. It is work that has taken me from the Himalayan plateau, to the border of Somalia and Ethiopia and beyond and it is truly my calling.
 
But what happens when I come back home after one of these life-changing and meaning-making adventures?
Over the years, I have learnt a thing or two about how to unpack from a trip – mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
 
For those of you about to embark on a sabbatical, military service, mission trip or an adventure on your ‘bucket list’ – here is an Unpacking List that I hope will benefit you.

7 Tips For Unpacking After A Life-Changing Trip

1. ​Admit that you have unpacking to do

People talk a lot about culture shock when going abroad, but I think reverse culture shock is actually harder to deal with. One moment I am standing in a slum in India with starving children and days later I am at a mall or giant supermarket in Texas wondering why the world is so unfair. I have learned that accepting “home” takes some time. There is a transition process. If you have to be back at the office on a Monday, it’s tough but it is almost better because the “Band-Aid is ripped off” – and you have to get back into your old routine, even though you are no longer the same person inside. Just remember, that it does take a while. Sometimes it takes a few days, or even longer, to feel like you can deal with home and all the differences in reality you are experiencing first hand. It is all ok. What is not ok is pretending that there is no transition time, bottling it up or equally bad – letting it out in appropriately on others. Just breathe – take it slow and if you do have a job you have to get back to – maybe plan to take a day or two off to decompress and process your trip before jumping into your routine and before facing too many people. It is easy to think – “they don’t understand what I have just seen and been through”. It’s up to you to help them to do so, but how and when you do it is key. 

2. Talk to a friend

It is really good to have one friend who has known you for years, that can help keep you grounded, smile at you or give you a hug when you just need to cry about what you saw and how hard it is to come back from that place. You need someone that can remind you that you are still you, and its ok for you to have changed from this experience. Schedule time with this friend as part of your unpacking routine. And if you don’t have a friend, then schedule time with a therapist or even an understanding doctor – someone who can listen to you and give you support as you try to find your place again.

3. Hibernate

Yes – you went on these adventures without hot showers, living in crazy place, no electricity etc. Now you are back in a city or suburbia with all its trappings. It’s ok. Stay inside, sleep, watch TV, cry, rest, relax and enjoy your home, your hot showers and all you are blessed with. Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “You can’t make yourself poor enough to help all the poor people in the world”. Feeling guilty about your blessings helps no one and only hurts yourself. Be happy and feel gratitude with all you are blessed with and make a commitment to enjoy yourself whilst remembering that others are not so fortunate – and that you can use your life to make the world a better place somehow. 

4. Go Out

On the other hand... Too much hibernating is not good. Go out. Go to that amazing supermarket. Go to the mall. Get back into the city you live in and love it for what it has to offer. Staying at home and suffering for others out of a feeling of guilt will not help anyone.

5. Share...

...your stories, your favorite photos, and things you have learned. Your friends and family will understand you more if you share what you have seen and experienced. They will help you through the moments when you do feel sad, upset, and guilty or are missing the friends you made on your trip or children that touched your heart.

6. Don't Share...

...that secret sacred part of your consciousness that has been forever marked by the experiences you have had. Keep sacred some of those stories of souls and suffering to yourself – you will know what I mean by this when you have seen it. You have seen yourself reflected in the eyes of those who are suffering. Send them prayers and blessings and keep alive their dignity by not sharing too much of their pain with others in a way that might sensationalize it, trivialize it or even worse, make it about you. Because it is not about you after all. 

7. Plan and Do

It sounds trite, but it does work. What can you do about making the world better? Fairer? More beautiful? You can do something. Anything. Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” I came back from a trip to India in 2005 and using that quote as my inspiration went on to create my own non profit that helped over 10,000 children in 12 countries. I started with one child. I made a plan. Now make yours. Maybe you will one day look back and realize that maybe that was real reason that you went on that trip in the first place. 
This article is dedicated to all the people in my life who have helped me unpack from a trip. ​Thank You.
I offer executive coaching and counseling to help people with transitions - especially those making the move from the corporate world to nonprofit life.
Making a transition in your life, career or within your organization? For Executive Coaching and transitional strategies contact:
www.shakticonsulting.com