Sepanx and Moving On after Vacation

Sigh! I miss Malaysia. It’s been a week since I went there. It was memorable, even on tight budget. The views, the similarities, food, culture, and my friends who have gave me an unforgettable experience of the Malay culture and landscape…

 

Oh no Bernie, here we go again! Remember it took you months to “recover” from your Myanmar and Hong Kong trip, and other trips in the past?! Yes, that annoying feeling again that sometimes annoys people surrounding you. Ugh!! SEPANX!!!

It’s that one thing that occurs after some memorable vacation or travel, the post-vacation blues. In the current colloquial word, it’s called “sepanx.” It’s short for “separation anxiety.” Even if it is a psychological term, common people especially us millenials, use this term for the post-vacation blues.

During these periods of #Sepanx, you have the urge to buy a ticket and go back to where you took a vacation, or planning to go back here.

This is more intense, especially when the trip was your first time, or memorable. In my case, my trips have always been memorable and cherished. It seems that time and space has created a whole new meaning to the place where I’ve been to—often creating an emotional bond or attachment to a particular space and time.

Having a vacation or travel is said to be beneficial to us. It’s said to recharge us from the daily grind or routine.

Masaya nga naman kapag memorable ang isang biyahe. The more memorable it is, the harder or longer it takes to move on from Sepanx. Though that still depends on the coping mechanisms of different people. Some will brush it off. Unfortunately for me, sometimes it takes time.

However, by the time that you’re about to go home, you have this feeling that it isn’t time yet. Bitin! It is that feeling that you don’t want to go back to the daily routine yet, or seeing the “normal” landscape once more—but you have to.

A few hours after the vacation, sepanx starts to show. A few days, you still couldn’t get over. Sometimes your Instagram and Facebook photos feed still has the photos of your vacation months ago. It can get annoying to you, or to the people surrounding you sometimes.

Don't you wish you're that rich to take a trip back?

I do think sepanx is normal and it occurs to every people with different intensities or coping mechanisms. Some would just deny they miss it. While others manifest it through social media posts or talking about it most of the time. Some would just discreetly think about it, and some would just recover from it quickly.

Like all things, each people have different mechanisms to cope up longing or missing the place or experience. It may be in a form of a souvenir, writing a blog post, posting your vacation photo, or cooking the dish that you’ve ate at that place. Eventually, it will move on.

Moving on!

There are some cases though that I haven’t moved on that easily—to the point that I took it beneficial, instead of the nuisance. My longing for Mindanao brought in series of trips back in college that brought me a new understanding of the place, met new people, learned the language, and eventually gave me my undergraduate (and possibly master’s) thesis. Because of my frequenting, I eventually called the South my home, even if I didn’t grew up there or born there. 

Eventually, most will move on.

Eventually, I’ve moved on from longing and made it for my own benefit. Relished the experience and learning from it.

Sabi nga ng isang experience, kapag ang isang lugar o tao ay binigyan ka ng isang napakagandang alaala, hindi ito kaagad nawawala. May panahon din para ika’y maka-recover at mag-move on. Pwede mong gamitin ang mga ala-ala't magagandang napag-aralan mula dito para sa iyong ikabubuti’t ikauunlad. Matuto mula rito, hindi buhayin muli mha ito. Mahirap maging clingy sa nakaraan. Malay mo, may bagong mas magagandang alaala pa ang naghihintay sa iyo, besh!

Kayo? What’s your Sepanx story and how long have you moved on? Please do share it with us! :)