I recently had a friend who told me she thought she was feeling depressed and felt this was strange since it started AFTER the holidays were over. I told her that I thought instead of experiencing depression, it might be Decompression.
Being one who travels almost every week, I experience this phenomenon virtually every time I have a little time at home. I will wake in a panic – not sure where I am or if I have over-slept. I feel uncomfortable and anxious. After a while of experiencing this – only when I am home in a safe environment, I realized that it was decompression I was experiencing. My mind becomes accustomed to waking in a hotel room and navigating around strange cities that it begins to feel uncomfortable when it I am in a familiar environment.
The Holidays create a similar situation where we are scurrying to get all of the shopping for presents completed in time. We have parties to go to – which can create another kind of discomfort for some of us, decorations to put up, family to visit and cooking meals that we do not cook but once a year.
Then, on January 2nd, everything goes back to normal. No more panicked shopping excursions with thousands of our closest strangers. No crazy meals to cook. None of this – just an ordinary drive back to work to face the same tasks to complete and the same problems to solve.
One way I have learned after years of experiencing this decompression, is to use it to my advantage. Instead of coping with the discomfort my mind creates until I get back into the routine, I instead find something to learn or a project to accomplish. In essence, I “up the game” of my routine. I add to what was my normal routine, new challenges that meet my minds new expectations. By doing so, I keep from experiencing the decompression blues while expanding my horizons and gaining new skills and experiences.
I challenge you to start this new year with a new project and goal that will up your game. I am curious what challenge will you take.