"We just left the NAAP Annual Conference 2021 and started talking about tips for re-entry. Ridghaus, dad, late-discovery adoptee, biodad, and writer/filmmaker has a few plans post-conference, and Amber, mom, biomom, and growing up in an NPE had a couple of things that she added to the mix.
We’ve just spent the last three days surrounded (mostly) by our peeps. “Mostly”, because even in the midst of loving the connections, many of us likely still needed to slip away for a little bit and just be alone. After coffee, lunches, dinners, later-night snacks, and bar/fire-pit time stretching into the early mornings and that 7 o’clock am yoga/tai chi will always come too early, even for a “morning person”. Many of us enjoyed soaking up as much of the laughter, the stories, the physical presence maybe we didn’t know we were missing, and the sense of belonging, as we could in just three days.
Then the conference ends and we all must pull our bags together and head back home. Home, where the next week lacks a conference schedule fluidity, where we probably will not hear a group of friends laughing just around the corner as they approach for the next session or to get some seat time together. This next week will certainly be quieter and much more ordinary. Conference weaves a magical time plucked from normal days and spins a place where we’re more easily understood, where we hear someone say what we thought “only I ever felt thought.” And now that dreamy state gives way to regular life. Validating that we just had amazing and emotional experiences once we’ve left is vital. Here are five tips on how we cope with post-conference emotional hangover?"
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