Home sweet home...

There I am "Home" in Canada. I understand now why the missions are limited to one year for Canadians. The psychologists who are following those going to a mission realized that a year is the limit for someone to stay in a mission and to come home without loosing all his/her marks. I caught myself saying sometimes that I was going home when I was talking about the place I was renting in PAP. It is really interesting to analyze this mental process which affect all of us, at a different degree of course depending many factors but still we are all going through it. I spoke to mission veterans upon my return who told me that their return was like another mission and it lasted the same as the mission itself before they could really got back to their regular routine.
When you leave for a year you have to adapt to your new environment but so has to do the family who stays behind. Our capacity to adapt to all situation kicks in and the emptiness left is fulfilled somehow making the return home a little more difficult than expected. During the year spent away from the family you have developed some different habits so it is hard to reverse the process and for the family members, even though they are happy to see you back, there is also a length of time required to adapt to the fact that you are returning home and willing to get back to the family circle.
I have to admit that the first week I was a little disoriented and felt detached to my surroundings but knowing me I know that is not going to last too long. However, I know that my pace is still slower that it use to be and it will probably takes time to return as it was before the mission but one day at the time is the way to go to avoid the "burn out" effect that some people have felt in the past.
We are pretty well trained prior our departure to go to the mission and our adaptation to the country we are going to serve for a year is quite facilitated. Unfortunately, there is no debriefing to help us to return which can be disastrous for someone would would return home thinking to get back his/her life where he/she left it prior to the mission.
A piece of advice that was passed to me by a mission veteran and that I found really useful was:
When you are returning home, think of yourself as a guest for the first few days (or weeks if needs be), this way you don't put too much pressure on yourself creating major stress to you or to everyone around you. It also gives the family members the necessary time to let you back in the family circle with a minimum ripple effect on their own routine. That was my approach and I can say it makes things a lot easier.
Next step to finalize my return home, work. I'm looking forward to start to work again, I'm sure it will be challenging at the beginning but I'm also confident that the professional and the human experience acquired during the mission will help me to be better in all aspects of my daily work and interaction with people…one day at the time ;-)