Re-entry into the real world after a conference #typeacon

I’ve been to a few conferences this year (several for work. Two have been blog conferences.) I left Atlanta less than 24 hours ago, following Type-A Parent Conference, and the re-entry process has not been easy. I know a lot of others are dealing with the same side effects, so I’ve come up with a few things that might help us get back into the real world and on with our lives (until next year’s conference, of course.)

Sleep. Go to bed early because you are going to have to recover from being “on” for many days in a row. And late night shenanigans. (I’m not saying that I took part in late night shenanigans at each conference, but there were many this past weekend and I had a blast. I just didn’t get much sleep.) I went to bed at 9 p.m. last night. I don’t recall the last time that happened.

Process the information. My bags from the conference are not all unpacked yet. I just didn’t have the energy to process everything – mentally and physically. Today I’m going through some of what I learned this past weekend and trying to put it into play on some work social accounts.

Hydrate yo’ self. I did a mostly good job about drinking water this weekend, but I was just trying to survive my drive home on Sunday and I drank ALL THE CAFFEINE. So today it’s back on the water train. I’ve had my one Diet Pepsi and it’s water for the rest of the day.

Follow up with your friends. I miss my girls. There was a ton of build-up before Type-A and we had several epic text messaging threads before and during the conference. The texting and Facebook messages have slowed today, but we’re still conversing.

Reconnect with your family. I honestly didn’t talk to my family much this weekend. In April, I tried to Facetime with my husband and son multiple times. It didn’t work out well. It just didn’t work each time. And when I called and talked to my son, he didn’t want to get off the phone. (I’m fairly certain it ended in a meltdown.) I abandoned technology last night, and I’ve promised to do the same again this evening – until I’m over the post-conference haze and my family is sick of me once again.

Try not to stress. Your spouse/significant other probably didn’t do everything exactly the way you would have. I saw a placemat that had gone through the dishwasher (and it clearly states on the back that it is NOT dishwasher safe.) And laundry was hanging, but not in the same places I would have put it. (I had to go through my husband’s side of the closet to find my pants this morning.) It’s ok. As long as your home is still standing, all will be fine.

Jot your blog post ideas out. I have so many since leaving Type-A. I even had a few from work conferences I attended. Get the ideas out on paper or in a document on your computer. You’ll have time soon enough to focus on them, but you don’t want to lose those brilliant ideas, do you?

Unpack and organize! This is so hard for me. I unpacked my suitcase last night. No problem. But the bags I came home with that contain papers, business cards and products? I dropped them in our guest room. Tonight after the toddler goes to bed, I will go through and recycle all the papers that I don’t need. I’ll organize the business cards into blogs I need to follow, brands I want to work with, and recycle everything that I just don’t need. Any items I received that I know I’m not going to need, I’ll give them to someone who can use them or donate them. I can’t hold onto everything.

Start planning for that next conference. Type-A 2015 has already been announced and I can’t wait for passes to go on sale. It just happens to fall the days after my birthday. Time to plan for my next birthday celebration conference!

If you attended Type-A this past weekend, how have you been coping with re-entry into the real world? (I have to admit. I’m not handling it very well! All I want to do is sleep. Maybe sleep with my laptop, because surely I can blog through osmosis, right?)

(The above photos were taken this past weekend and posted on my Instagram feed. Are we friends on Instagram? We should be. And if you love this post, maybe you’ll enjoy other posts? You can always sign up for my email updates to stay in touch!)