The ‘Return Home Blues’

After a week away for training and a little vacation, I’m back in BK. So. . . how am I feeling? Honestly, it’s always hard to come back to normal life. It’s hard to jump back into the daily routine, partly because there IS no daily routine. Sometimes people ask us “what’s a typical day look like for you overseas?” And I can usually never give a typical answer. That makes for a non-predictable, some might say ‘adventurous’ life, but it’s really nice sometimes to wake up in the morning with a game plan already laid out for me.

There is usually only one solution to the ‘return home blues’ and that is to get out of the house and be with people. In other words, engage the culture. I remember our supervisors telling this to us the first week we were in country. They said that when we’re feeling culture shock, overwhelmed, and stressed, the best thing to do is NOT to run away from the culture, but to run TOWARDS it. The impulse is to run away from it- into our bedroom, turn on an American movie and hide. But we’ve learned that never solves the problem. It only stretches it out. There are other good things to do too, like connect with God, read my Bible, be productive with something like respond to emails or write a newsletter. But when we FIRST come back to town, it’s so important to re-establish our presence in the community. Be with our friends and neighbors. That’s whisks the shock right away, and that more than anything gives us drive.