People Are Strange

I am a bit peopled out. Since I finished my cycling journey from Mexico to Canada, I stayed with a friend in Montana, who is very social, then did a hiking trip with a friend where we we together in the car, the trail and the tent every day, then did TBE with Birchie where we were in the car or room every day plus our social calendar was quite full, then I was back with the friend in Montana, then headed back west to stay with yet another friend. Not that I am counting, but basically for 44 out of 48 days, I was with people. These people were wonderful and I had a great time visiting with them, but that is a lot of days for me to be around someone, aka not really have my own space. Also, I barely read (or listened to) any books! This sounds laughable to those who love being around people or those who don't read a lot, but seriously, I missed my daily audiobook session sometimes. I missed my routine, even though sometimes I don't even know what my routine is. 

To top it all off, I feel a bit of post adventure blues. Do you know what I am talking about? Where you have a big trip planned and you spend a lot of time thinking about it and planning it and then you do it and it is wonderful, but once you are done, you feel a bit strange? That is how I am feeling. For two months straight, my daily grind was to ride, sleep, put up a tent, take down a tent, find food, eat and look forward to my next meal. Then I got to the Canadian border and not only thought, "now what?" but also kind of felt a bit adrift. What was I supposed to do with my time? I had forgotten what a "normal" day was like before riding (BR). So I filled up the time with hikes, visits with friends, and TBE, which were all great, but I still was not really back in my routine. 

Now what?

So now I am in a place where I can make a routine, but my brain feels like a wet sponge, kind of sitting there a bit saturated and unable to soak up anything. Also, in one week, I will be starting another hiking trip and so the routine will be tweaked yet again. At least in this case, it will be back to the hike-food-shelter routine which I know, but it still feels a bit discombobulating at the moment, since I know that any routine I start in the next week will be sidelined soon. 

I know this will pass, and often as a full time traveler, it is necessary to slow down and stay in a place for a month, or to go back to a place where you have been before, as otherwise it can be a bit of information overload or decision fatigue, which is what I am in the middle of right now. I also need to figure out what I am doing for the next leg, which can be fun, but in the shape my brain is in right now, I don't really want to do it at the moment. I have ideas but I can't seem to execute. Of course I feel strange even bringing this up, as I know other people have kids and pets and homes and jobs to deal with and I am talking about planning my next bout of travel. But we all have things that make our brain go wonky, no matter what avenue of life we have taken! 

One thing I am considering is not sending out holiday cards this year. I have done it every year for probably the last 30+ years, and it feels weird to even say out loud that I may not to it. But my list has grown and grown, and I do hate taking people off, so it has not gotten any smaller. I make my own card, curated with photos, printed at home every year until I sold my house, I hand address them with love, and I take pride in it. However, at this very moment, I don't feel motivated to do it and I am starting to feel like the juice is not worth the squeeze. Is this just my sponge brain talking, or am I really not interested? I am not sure. I could just buy a card, or a post card, and send that instead, but after handmaking my card for so many years, to me that feels like I am not giving it my all or I am doing things halfway. 

I know that once I start my hike, and set up my next leg of travel (as in firm the location and buy the dang flight) and have a bit of time to dive into a routine, which will happen in November, I will feel better, but at the moment I am in the cave. 

Do you get peopled out? How do you deal with it? What makes your brain go into sponge mode? If you send holiday cards, have you ever skipped a year?