It’s inevitable that as a Generation-Y wanderer that you’ll have a crippling bout of wanderlust every now and then. It’s a terrible feeling—I used to get it about once every three months but now find myself dealing with it more often than not. Sorry to inform you, but it’s not something that goes away or that you get used to. In fact, I think it just gets worse.
Traveling is like a drug. You go on one trip (no pun intended) and you find yourself craving the next one before it’s even ended. Recently after coming back from Budapest, it took me a total of two days back at my apartment in Lucca to realize I needed to book another trip—fast. I’m headed to Palermo next week because the novelty of being home usually lasts about a week for me, and then I’m ready for my next adventure and ready for time to speed up.
The issue is not so much whether or not you have the travel bug, but how you deal with it when you it’s impossible for you to go anywhere. As someone who is a certifiable addict, learning to deal with restlessness has been an ongoing struggle for me. It has not been easy. I’ve been traveling and living abroad pretty much since my graduation from college (almost two years!) and learning how to slow down and settle into a daily schedule has not been a simple task.
I’ll have a few weeks when I return to the States for the summer where I will be working and planning my next move, and I know they are going to be difficult because I will be in the same spot (except for a quick jaunt to Peru). It’s going to be a challenge to kind of just be for a while, but I am going to do my best. Unless you have unlimited time and money, it’s impossible to constantly be on the road, which is not a reality for most of us—especially members of Generation-Y. So learning ways to come off a trip high (this time, pun intended) and to settle into a daily routine can be a good way to get used to a few weeks or months when you won’t be traveling.
We’re lucky, wanderlusters! Although the feeling of restlessness is never easy, it’s something we can learn to deal with and in a way use for our benefit. We’re always learning and growing and changing because we’re forced to. I like to see time off from travel as a way to reflect on how much I’ve changed and how and in what ways I can change in the future.
Do you have any tips on how to deal with restlessness? Have you had a particularly bad bout?