rückkehrunruhe – n. the feeling of returning from an immersive trip only to notice if fading rapidly from your awareness, as if your brain had automatically assumed it was all just a dream and already went to work scrubbing it from your memory.

I feel like rückkehrunruhe happens at the end of quite a few trips. Certainly all the volleyball ones where I’m coaching. Such an intense emotional experience competing with a team, but not doing much more than providing light guidance. I don’t get on the court and can do little to affect the outcome in the moment.

However, I also felt this recently after coming back from That! Conference in Wisconsin. 3+ days in a fun, scout-camp-meets-tech-conference atmosphere and back to work. I think having a 30 hours turnaround at home before reading to the wedding also made the transition back from the work event to life full of rückkehrunruhe.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows