Reverse Culture Shock - and now?

Photo: Jan Marosi

Table of Contents

Are globetrotters completely relaxed, inspired and inspired when they return home after a long trip? No. They often experience a pretty strong reverse culture shock: It's hard for them to get used to the idea that the adventure is over. They no longer enjoy going to the office, their fellow students at university seem boring, friendships fall apart.

This is what happened to globetrotter and journalist Uta-Caecilia Nabert. She spent almost two years traveling the world, first through Russia, China and Southeast Asia for half a year. Then she lived in New Zealand for over a year - thanks to the working holiday visa, she was able to travel and work there. 

The Reverse Culture Shock Comes Only After The Journey

But no wedding

Back home, she thought, she would look for a job in an editorial office again and someday marry her boyfriend, who was waiting for her at home. But everything turned out differently: Back home, she realized that arriving wasn't that easy, and she had heard about the concept of "a new life. Reverse Culture Shock never heard of. She didn't like staying with her partner anymore, and the mere thought of getting back into a nine-to-five job sent her into a panic. If she had been free to decide - truly free - what she wanted to do, she probably would have gotten on the next plane right away and thrown herself into the next adventure.

Instead, she parted ways with her longtime partner, but went back to looking for a job as an editor. "I wish I had listened more to myself, to what I really wanted," she says today. She didn't do that until years later, when she followed her intuition and traveled to Canada for two years. It wasn't until after that time, only her second return, that it finally felt good. The return became a homecoming.

What to do about Reverse Culture Shock?

But how does the phenomenon of reverse culture shock come about in the first place and how can it be circumvented or at least mitigated? One thing is certain: on a long trip around the world, you have grown enormously, you get a real ego booster. Travelers find themselves in unfamiliar situations again and again, have to prove themselves, be flexible, leave their comfort zone. In this way, they discover completely different sides of themselves and abilities. They also realize what is really important to them in life.

The clash comes after they return home, when their old environment expects them to be "back to their old selves," still fitting into the void they once filled.

Coming home more relaxed in 5 steps

Uta will tell you how you can make your return without too much reverse culture shock:

  • Lower certain expectations or be flexible enough to adjust them if necessary. I also advise this to your environment, your parents for example: Only if you don't expect that after returning home (your own or that of a child / friend) everything will be the same as before, you can't be disappointed. And only who does not expect that you (or the child / friend) will return at all, can not be disappointed.
    -> If you realize after a year of working holiday in New Zealand that you have not yet seen the rest of the world, then you simply travel on. In total, Germans receive a working holiday visa for twelve different countries: for Singapore, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada.
  • Keep the freedom you experienced while traveling, fear is a bad advisor, especially when it comes from those who did not experience what you experienced: So if you notice while you're on the road that you're in a bad mood just thinking about the old job you put on hold just for a sabbatical, you should quit it while you're still on the road. Even if friends and family say, "Are you crazy? How can you quit this secure well-paying job?" It may sound weird, but: the risk will pay off as long as you feel it was the right decision. That's because you're giving yourself the chance, when you get back home, to give your Dream job to search.
  • Cut yourself some slack: There's nothing wrong with being unemployed for a while after your trip. In the long run, it's worse to rush into a job you don't like out of sheer panic. Even then, the Reverse Culture Shock is pre-programmed.
  • Be patient with yourself: It can take up to two years before you are mentally back and reasonably happy after returning home.
  • Set deadlines and goals. Ideally, you should have already made a plan during the trip for what you want to do afterwards. It is important that the plan is not dictated by someone else, such as your parents or a partner. The plan must really correspond to your own wishes and needs. But it takes time to put it into practice. A deadline that you set for yourself and by which you want to have achieved the goal or certain stages along the way is helpful.

Book on the subject

In her narrative nonfiction book "Back and yet not here"Uta-Caecilia Nabert has not only written down her own story, but also those of 22 other backpackers. They all tell about their personal Reverse Culture Shock, which they experienced after a long journey back home. For none of them was it easy, but they all made it - but never without shedding tears and fighting battles. But even after a few brave decisions, radical breaks, and total rewrites of their resumes, they were all able to say, "Adé Reverse Culture Shock, I've arrived wherever I am now."

Cover picture: Jan Marosi

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