Awe home again. Sleeping in your own bed, using mouthwash and Q-tips for the first time and never realizing how much you missed them. (Balanced) home-cooked meals, drinking water from the tap and smooth high-speed WiFi! Home, sweet home!
Everyone who travels develops a new appreciation for things at home. After you live out of a backpack for X number of months you return home to what feels like luxurious living even though nothing really changed while you were away.
Since being home I noticed little adjustments in my routine. These are three things I practice after returning from travel.
Preserving what I use
We could always put a little extra effort in to reducing what we use, right? It's funny how simple luxuries like, toilet paper, drinking water straight out of the tap, and access to fresh foods, were things I took for granted until I traveled.
Take for example: a small desert town, San Pedro, Chile, the locals would fly black flags in protest for the low water availability. Or in small towns in Patagonia, it was $7 for a red pepper or $5 for a, less than adequate, head of broccoli. I forget how certain resources available here at home are not always available in other parts of the world.
Now that I am home I make sure to turn off light switches, fill my sink for doing dishes instead of letting the water run, eat everything on my plate or save it when I can't, compost etc. More than actually physically preserving what I use, I am more grateful for it every time I use it. Like a hot shower in the privacy of your own bathroom--what a treat!
Living Minimally
Come take a peek at my 50 litre backpack. A brief overview of its contents included: 3 pairs of pants, 5 shirts, a sweater, some toiletries AKA a dwindling shampoo bar, a camera, an unnecessarily large Lonely Planet book and more souvenirs than I had clean pairs of socks.
This 25 pounds of stuff on my back was my life. With so few belongings I had to adjust living with a reduced inventory. I stopped wearing makeup, happily wore the same t-shirts and forfeited any sense of fashion, let my skin bear its natural self and let my hair do its own thing. But I was okay with it. Less became more.
Now I'm home, I keep my jewelry in its box, I rarely touch makeup,and I just purged three giant boxes from my wardrobe. Frankly, I could get rid of more. Living off of nothing showed me I don't need STUFF to feel fulfilled. The less you have to deal with the less you have to think about it.
Being Grateful
It's factual, gratitude makes you a happier person, or so say fancy Harvard Health studies: "...gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships."
Travelers are privileged. Traveling means you have time and finances to do so; a luxury not everyone has the opportunity to exercise. And when you get to spend your days doing bucket list things while meeting unique, kind, funny, caring people, you start to step back and appreciate where you're at in life.
I guess it's hard to do one thing then put it in a blogpost and then finish off with, "You know what I mean?" But I guess what I am saying is....it doesn't take standing on top of a mountain to be thankful. Waking up in a cozy bed, eating your favourite breakfast, having high speed Wifi, or acknowledging the great people in your life are pretty great things too. Recognizing the little things can lead to big-time satisfaction with life.
-Mimi