Trouble with adjustment … getting my head back together again

A snowHead

I seriously have a problem of adjustment back to work and normal life when returning from two weeks or so of skiing.

1 I cannot balance completely adequately. I find walking along pavements just slightly disconcerting. It’s not serious, I am just conscious of it.
2 I really cannot concentrate on work. I am fine when felling trees. Not so good when researching for writing. I prevaricate and displace. Badly. It takes me about three weeks to get my head properly back into work
3 I just want to be back in the mountains. My mind is still there.
4 Mountain biking is SO SLOW. I want to go a lot faster. I am in fact in higher gears in known singletrack. So I am fast. But it feels slow.

I have scanned the research literature and there are associations between hot, inactive vacations and lower cognitive function; associations between high levels of activity and better cognitive function (particularly in older subjects) and evidence of high levels of integrated demand on cognitive and physical functions when skiing - inducing fatigue but being a good thing for preserving both.

So it’s probably an emotional thing, a problem with habit and adjustment. Down to me to change it then….

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Glad to read this as had wondered if anyone else was going through points 2 and 3 in particular.

Sometimes I think I’d rather not go away again (but instead just potter around near home for annual leave) than to have to experience these post trip doldrums.

Thanks for sharing the research findings.

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@HerecomesCarol, …I am certainly deep in planning for next season….buying kit, passes (Magic and Epic), blocking out dates, asking who is coming when…

…and i get entirely the ‘not go away’ thing…I can readily spend time on all the tasks at home…repairs to bikes, building new bikes, maintaining the wood and extracting timber, researching nature locally, watching the hares and deer, maintaining the hedges etc.

But I have this weird ‘I’d rather not be away’ thing…when prepping for mountain trips (and work trips)…and then ‘I am really glad I came…’ after 24hours… and then have to go through the whole adjustment thing when back. I think it’s quite deeply seated in our human behaviours…a behaviour of having to adjust to new settings and once adjusted feeling located. Of course some people crave change and movement…

Skiing is a bit odd since it requires such high emotional and physical commitment - and you can only devote time to getting better at it during the short periods of vacation. I mountain bike as a second sport and that’s good since it encourages a lot of the fitness and capability one needs in skiing - and I do that throughout the year.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Now in my late 50s I only survive by living from one trip to the next and dreaming of retirement!

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In the immediate run-up to any trip I also often feel like I’d rather not be going away and that it was unwise to have booked it.

Then I feel that elation once I’ve initially settled into the temporary location.

So I agree with you, it may well be a common feature of the human psyche.

Great to have a second, complementary sport. Your tasks near home sound good for the soul.

I’d like to add to the emotional and physical cost: the financial cost. Obviously there are different ways of approaching the spend on these trips (self drive vs private transfer, etc) but there a base cost that is hard to avoid.

Boris: am in my 40s and spent parts of the weekend daydreaming about becoming a ski bum.

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@valais2, i can feel you.
I’m glad there are others like me. Honestly, it was even more intense for me back then. Around 20 years ago, I actually had to see a therapist because of depressive symptoms after coming back from a 3 Week Trip in South Tyrol to Greece, where the weather felt like spring in mid-January.

My wife (although she also likes skiing) tells me that I spend all my time looking for trips, gear, and skiing/snowboarding, and that in my free time I basically just go to work Puzzled

.

I came back from Avoriaz on April 4th and immediately started planning for next season.

Als second "sport" i started Yoga und Fitness studio, in order to be fit and flexible for snowboarding. And with 50+ i am thinking of trying hitting some boxes during the next season. I am probably the only man in Fitness Studio who does so much for legs and core vs the other guys who are struggling to have bigger arms Laughing

@Boris, same here...

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For me the solution is to be retired. I have spent 6 weeks skiing this winter over 3 trips and already have 3 summer holidays booked - beach, family holiday and choir singing trip. Most of my skiing is in 3V based in Meribel where one son works in the winter - its like my second home so being there is completely normal. A couple of weeks of summer holiday will be on a Greek island where friends retired. That is my summer second home.
So I have 3 'homes', the UK one where I am now plus my ski home and beach home. I love visiting the ski and beach areas but would not want to live there all year, 2-3 weeks at a time is enough.

I feel I have the perfect life for me (and Mr Mogulski) but it depends what you want. Back in UK I belong to various groups which hillwalk, sing, amateur radio (radio hams) and spend hours during the summer in my garden where people stop and chat when they walk past. We are all individuals and you are lucky if you find the lifestyle that makes you happy.

@mogulski, sounds excellent...

Off topic, but the most important thing is to stay healthy until retirement. And secondly, to have enough money to do everything you want.

Personally, I don’t want to wait and make all my plans for retirement, because (as we say in Greece) „when a man makes plans, someone up there laughs“.

Apart from that, having lived in two countries, one of them being Greece, I don’t have high expectations of having enough money to support my hobbies in retirement. It sounds a bit pessimistic, but I don’t think Greece will remain in the Euro for the next 20 years or so, meaning my pension from there would probably be enough for peanuts. And i mean the cheap peanuts, not pistachio Laughing

So I know that I will probably have to work in some way until my last breath. Hopefully healthy enough to work as an instructor… or a dishwasher… somewhere in the Alps, assuming there is still skiing in the future. Puzzled

Many years ago in Ellmau, I met a ski instructor who was definitely over 70. He told me: “I have never worked for money, I only worked out of passion. So I didn’t build up enough pension, and I know I will work as an instructor until I die.”

One way or another, I think I will follow a similar path.

You know it makes sense.

@valais2, I'm with you.

Whether it's returning from a ski trip or a cycling trip, it takes me a week or two to just over the 'depression' of not doing what I love, and then for weeks afterwards I just get distracted thinking about new adventures and trips.

I definitely think I have some kind of mental thing going on where I'm happiest when I'm thinking about escapism.... I really struggle with that mindset of relish the time you have to enjoy the non-work and then just get your head down at work until the next trip. my missus can do that easily. Maybe I have too much time on my hands at work (I know working from home doesn't help me on that front).

But like @ster says, better to suffer post-trip blues than never to have gone at all..... I need a way to channel all that joy of the trips so I don't feel like I've lost a limb

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Specialman, start planning the next one as soon as you come back!

A snowHead

@ster, I used to like having the next holiday actually booked before returning from the previous one. This year feels unbelievably weird, I've not been abroad at all for 14 months. Shocked

A snowHead

@KSH, you’re bloody organised!

But why the hiatus of late ?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@ster, thankfully I'm cycling in the Vosges in 2 weeks, and then I have to plan a family Summer holiday. But I've already been making tentative plans for next Winter, just need to nail down dates and who's coming (and then work out which remaining organ to sell)

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@KSH, oh yes, we always like to have something to look forward to, even just a weekend away in caravan.

@Specialman, I can relate to that, I WFH in a very non-taxing role and spend my life planning things, both holidays or projects around the house

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Hmmm, I sort of do understand, but I'm now looking out over a ever green alpine scene and while I do wish I'd done more skiing of late, teh Grands Montets is bulletproof until it's slush so I'm not so sure I'm that keen. And it's getting very warm in the afternoons.

I even put shorts on this morning, first thing.

It helps massively that we are no longer at the beck and call of corporate masters ....

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@under a new name, I have a similar sort of feeling to you. As we're here all year I don't have that returning home feeling, but as the end of the season comes I think back to whether I should have got up before work and skied more often. Should I have taken some longer lunches and nipped out for a few turns.

I also get to the start of the summer and that's when my mind starts thinking to the UK. I really enjoyed my summers in the UK, playing golf with mates, Monday and Thursday night 6 a side footy and then down to the pub for a catch up. BBQ's, weekends away etc. A lot of that we can do here in Austria, particularly the BBQ's and weekends away as the weather is better, but the social side of things is less of a thing for us here, as we just don't have that same circle of friends.

I often think, maybe just one more winter season and think about moving back, but then we get to the back end of the summer, snow starts to settle on the peaks and I'm back to a mindset of, how could I ever consider going back to the UK vs having all this skiing on my doorstep.

If we still had freedom of movement I would imagine we'd only be here for the winters, but we don't have that luxury any more.

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@ster,

After all it is free

@KSH, sorry to hear that. Hope it turns around!

@swskier, I somewhat actually, these days prefer the summers in a weird way, especially spending time down south. But there's a definite allure to the first snows ...

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@ster, thank you!

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I had a break from skiing for a few years, due to work/finances/pandemic/etc., and didn't realise how much it affected me until I started again about four years ago. After my first return trip to skiing, just one week in Saalbach, friends and colleagues mentioned I was happier, more outgoing and chatty, less serious, more alert and 'in the moment', and just more fun to be around. That first evening on arrival, the smell of the cold and snow in the air, and the sound of the ski boots walking in the street, just made me incredibly excited about the next morning. On the first day, getting to the top of one of the mountains, and just stopping to take in the panoramic views, breathing in the cold, clean air, seeing the low lying cloud layer filling the valley, felt like seeing an old friend again for the first time in a long, long time away. That feeling stayed with me all week, and getting back, the holiday blues hit me like a brick wall. Within a week, I'd booked next year's week away, and a couple of months later booked a second trip with a mate.

And that's the pattern I follow now. I go on at least two trips in a season, and treat it almost like therapy. Very enjoyable, exhausting, sometimes painful, always exhilarating therapy. I come back, see what resorts I fancy for the following year (sometimes I've made up my mind even before I've got back), commit myself by putting a deposit down, and then start the refurbish/repair/replace kit list, research the resort and surrounding area, watch on webcams the snows disappear, then return as the year progresses. I rabbit on about the trips I've been on to friends, family and colleagues until I see their eyes glaze over, put yet another magnet on the office fridge, and just smile, smugly. Just like OP, it takes me a few weeks to be back on top of my game in work, but I don't have the post-holiday black dog like I used to.

As for the trips; If I go with friends, great. If I go solo, also great (sometimes better!). I'm pretty much an outgoing character, and try to use a smattering of the local lingo to get by. Learning and expanding language skills is also good for keeping the old grey matter active, and that also makes any trip more enjoyable. I now look at any time spent on the mountains really positively, whether that's on trips already taken, or on ones to come. So whether it's an emotional thing, an issue with habit and adjustment, I've decided not to change anything except my mindset. I embrace the time it takes to adjust back to 'normal', enjoying the long anticipation and preparation to the next trip. Reading this back now, and thinking about it, I don't think I do return to 'normal', I just focus a bit more on work, and look at it as the means to fund my addiction!

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@MajorQ, a lovely read, thank you. It's a kind of therapy.

@Shakira, you are right, it hadn't occurred to me that there's a natural high from the endorphins and dopamine hits. Maybe that's why I'm becoming addicted.

@KSH, I hope you start to get better soon.

@HerecomesCarol@MajorQ,

…I think the psychological and brain structure research understates a very specific mechanism which we know is in play for both lazy hot vacations and highly active ones … and that’s the ‘What are we doing today?’ syndrome.

We know from research that those who write lists get more done. That’s the conscious bit of the syndrome. A list organises our day. But the research also suggests something much more fundamental - that the brain prioritises energy allocation and structure-building. A lovely and eminent brain physiologist I worked with until her death impressed on me how vital physical structure in the brain is. To learn something new we need to grow new structure in the brain - literally - and that’s why repetition is so important in learning.

When I am working hard at my occupation, my brain prioritises reading, comprehending, analysing, constructing hypotheses, writing cogently. When I wake up it knows that these will be the tasks of the coming day. This is distinctly NOT what I am doing when I am skiing climbing or mountain biking. After three or so days my brain has recognised ‘ah so that’s what we’ll be doing today, skiing - not that research nonsense…’

And I think this is a key part of why it takes such tardy reorientation on return. There are some emotional things like missing friends and mountains, some cognitive things like getting organised again, but there are deep neurological things going on as well….

Brain ‘Ah ive only just caught up…so we’ve stopped skiing and need to do that research stuff again….’

You know it makes sense.

@MajorQ, you've got the bug really badly! Laughing

@HerecomesCarol, thank you!

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Trouble with adjustment … getting my head back together again

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