Now that the Burn is over, it’s time to get back into the default world. It’s reintegration time! Stink we know, but unfortunately there’s not enough Burns to just Burn all year round. Not yet anyway…
It can be a jarring experience going from the Paddock to your regular life. Speaking from experience, heading home after my first Burn was a tough transition. I went from being surrounded by friendly, like minded people to being ignored by people I said hi to on the street when I was out walking.
Of course, not everyone has the same experience, but generally speaking, when we arrive home, we can all feel a bit down and long to return to the Burn. What makes it worse is that we have to catch up on sleep and come down from a week of good times, dancing, fun and… other things.
However, (again) in my experience, the transition gets easier every time. The first one is the hardest, but it definitely gets easier for your second, third and so on.
That being said, there are a bunch of things you can do to make your reintegration a good one. So today, we wanted to list some of them for you. Hopefully it makes your reintegration that little bit easier.
In no particular order, here they are:
Connect with fellow Burners
Reintegration can be tough, but you don’t have to go through it alone. Connecting with Burners can help you all to hold onto the magic of the Burn for a bit longer. If you met any Burners who live near you, plan a meet up with them. If you didn’t meet any, you can check if there’s a local Burners’ group on Facebook or put a message out on the Kiwiburn page asking if anyone would like to meet up in your local area.
Rethink the Burn
Instead of thinking that the Burn is a one time event, start thinking of how you can incorporate the Burner way into your everyday life. Consider: How can you embody the Burner Principles year round? How can the Burner Principles make you a better person? How can you start to use the Burner way to make other people’s lives better?
Start planning for next year
Just because the Burn is done, doesn’t mean your planning has to be. You are generally most inspired right after the Burn ends, so use that energy and start planning for next year. Outfits, art, events, whatever it is, start planning it now. This gives you a) something to look forward to and b) a project to work on during the year. I can attest to how well this works!
Take care of yourself
You only have one body, so treat it right. Make sure you feed it whatever it needs – good food, lots of water, heaps of sleep. If you need supplements or vitamins to bring yourself back to a ‘normal’ level, then take them. A healthy body helps keep your mind healthy, so take care of it.
That’ll do it for this list, we could list tips all day but in the interest of keeping it short, we’ll end it here. Hopefully this list helps and we wish you a great reintegration!
Image credit: Jo Legutko
