Traveling back home

How traveling (or anything in life that’s disruptive to your routine) can help you prioritize and create smoother transitions in your life.

arriving home

Traveling can feel like a big disruptor, but then so is life w/o travel, is it not? Guests come into town for a week, the household gets sick, holidays and life events happen… also there are project deadlines, getting sucked into “just one more episode,” and the general malaise time warp. 

I’ve traveled a lot. I didn’t know I would love it as much as I do. I was initially concerned that it might be more disruptive than it’s worth for what I have going on in my life. It did disrupt, and it was worth every bit of it and more. It disrupted my limited thinking on what’s possible, and what is. For one thing, it forced me to think about how to travel and maintain good digestion. And what I really wanted to experience in my life. I also had to figure out how to get everything done without getting overwhelmed… and to learn what it means to get everything done.

Travel can reveal what’s important. Leverage it.

When I prepare for travel, my most important priorities rise to the top: What needs to happen for me before I go? What awaits me when I come back, and what do I want to come home to? What commitments are actually important?  What will ease the transition so I’m not suffering from travel exhaustion and playing massive catch up when I return? How can I look forward to coming home as much as I look forward to going away?

Deeply rooted habit stacks and daily practices at home are both essential and transferable skills that can create ease, no matter what the disruption.

When I’m not traveling, I prep my meditation space for my morning practice the night before to make it easier to follow through when I wake up to do my intended practice, among other things. When I am traveling…

Here’s what I do to make coming home easier:  

• I make sure I come home to a clean house and bed. When I’m away, the lodging is set up for me. They are clean and beautiful. It’s part of the joys of being on vacation. Coming home to the same eases the transition and accelerates the grounding and sense of ease needed after a trip away. 

• For work, which I wouldn’t be doing while on vacation, I pace them over weeks prior to my trip to support a better rhythm for myself so I don’t get sick or go insane. Calendaring becomes super helpful for this.

• I plan what I will eat when I get home, and this includes its accessibility. Coming home to an empty fridge or a fridge with moldy food and no plan… sucks. Planning your first meal home makes all the difference in the world, giving you the nourishment and energy you need to get grounded and fully relaxed. 

• I schedule time with a friend the week of my return to have something special to look forward to. You might think, I don’t know what’s going to come up when I get back, or how I’m going to feel, and that’s exactly what’s exhausting. Know what’s going to come up and make it this one. If something else comes up, you can tell that something else you already have plans.  

• I start every morning of my trip with meditation as I would at home but shorter. In fact, I keep much of my morning habit stack intact. Sometimes I do a short journal during the day. My boyfriend and travel partner has a different routine, and he keeps his intact while open to modification to remain flexible. These habits keep us grounded and our digestion operating smoothly throughout the trip. Travelers know how important this is. Holding onto my key habits, instead of dropping them because I’m on vacation, is how I don’t lose myself.

• I have found that choosing more relaxed activities and diet on the last day of the trip is supportive of a more seamless return home.

• I’ve learned to rally and empty my suitcase as soon as I get home, putting everything back in their place, including the laundry in the hamper, or better yet, straight into the wash. It’s a great transition hack! Leaving this for later is a visual nag that creates more weight and clutter, both physically and emotionally. 

• I take a nice long shower or bubble bath with candles when I get home and then into clean clothes. This cleanses more than the body. Extra bonus if you have a nice thick white robe to slip into (along with slippers).

• Depending on what time of day I return home, I keep that day, or day after, clear of any scheduled meetings so I can move around on my own time. I might decide that this is a day to play music, see a movie, create a photobook of my trip, make a healthy home-cooked meal, and think about what the next trip could be. I end that day making sure I know what my calendar looks like for the rest of the week. 

• Don’t think you have time for these? It’s like running to a cafe for a mocha latte. You spend what you think you don’t have anyway. The choice is to make it more on your terms. This eases the transition every time.

The above practices keep me balanced and help me recover much faster after doing the “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” thing. They allow me to break my own rules when I’m away and stay grounded with my energy intact.

They reduce any friction I might experience on my return home. And they’re simple. Travel stops me from taking on additional commitments in my life because I know I can’t do them: I won’t be there, and I have enough to do before and after. I know I need the space to pace myself. I get more discerning. Each time, I learn more and more what’s important to me and what I need in order to stay balanced and to do things well.

You can replace travel with anything in life that can be disruptive to your normal routine. If you have guests in town, or are busy with wedding activities all month, still keep your morning and bedtime rituals, habit stacks, and bubble baths. Guests really and truly don’t require your attention every moment of your day, and neither does your wedding party. Nor your family members. Plan when you will enjoy simple meals at home. Schedule time with those you want to stay connected with; don’t put them off. Don’t drop things all over your house. You may not think this is a big deal, but your energy will say otherwise. Instead, slow down and say no to something else. 

Coming home

Trips aren’t just about hiking beautiful mountains, finding a delightful local cafe, or taking in breathtaking monuments. It’s about realizing what inspires us, and what we want to experience more of in our lives at home. 

Beauty, for instance. We seek it when we’re on vacation. We can bring more of this into our lives and home when we’re not traveling. A friend whom I was driving home once said to me,

let’s go this way, it’s prettier.

This is one super easy way to bring beauty home without redecorating your entire house, and how I choose my routes more often these days. When I see things that don't instill joy in my house, I’m quicker to move them on so someone else can enjoy them. I feel joy and gratitude walking into every room of my house now. Traveling breaks through clutter of the mind and home because it pulls you out of your normal routine. And it can encourage simplicity in life. If you let it.

Trips open up curiosity about other cultures and their temperaments. I learn a lot from them. Giving me different perspectives, they help me see more options and ways of being. They bring to light my values and desires in ways that I couldn’t access at home, and I get to play with how to bring them into my normal day to day.

They challenge the routine a bit, which helps to break the ceiling of limitations on what’s possible. You didn’t think you ever had time for a daily 10 minute meditation let alone leave town for an entire week, did you?

They remind me to live rather than try to create a life. Many cultures outside of the U.S. smack me in the face with this one.

It’s grounding to get back in the familiarity of routine and environment of home. And, it doesn’t take long to be ready for the next trip. The dream of what’s next is a dream always worth indulging in. It reveals your true desires and gives you something to look forward to while you get to enjoy the familiarities and opportunities in what you have in the here and now. It’s a beautiful back-and-forth rhythm of anchoring and flying, got with just a little bit of planning and decision to bring beauty, exploration, ritual, and indulgence into your day to day.   

Love,  Savitree

pack light, travel light, be light.