Traveling from country to country, continent to continent, across oceans and land masses around this tiny planet we call home that spins it's way around the sun in our galaxy is the closest I'll get to time travel.
JET LAG...a compact word meaning the rebellion of my body and mind to the effects of forced time travel.
Sleeplessness. Fatigue. Coma-like sleep. Muscle ache. Hunger off schedule. Ears ringing. Vertigo. Mind fog. Tunnel Worm Hole -like concentration. It's all a part of the process.
I have found that going to my destinations seem easier than the return home. I'm not sure why. Some trips are easier than others.
Though I'm typically traveling for only a couple of weeks at a time, the extent of jet lag (depending upon how many time zones I travel across and which direction I'm traveling) it can hit me pretty hard at times (especially if I'm on a more extended expedition of several months). I'm reassured by those who have experienced lots of traveling around the world that what I experience is normal.
The rotation of the earth and the numerous time zone leaps (sometime resulting in "reliving" a day), riding in cars for numerous hours, sitting in planes for extended hours, layovers in airports, carrying baggage, customs and immigrations lines...it can all be traumatic for the body. It all factors in. And my body is not happy for it.
Be good to yourself. Grace. I need to give myself and my body grace to adjust back. It takes time.
Time.
Oh how I'm longing for the true invention and utilization of Cryogenic Sleep Chambers for space/time travel!
RE-ENTRYAnd then there's this thing called "RE-ENTRY" (counter-culture shock).
Adjusting back to my own culture after having been immersed in a different culture.
It can be shocking to the system. My mind thinks..."wait, where am I? how should I respond?" Part of me gets used to doing things the way another culture would do them (which takes a couple of days to adjust to that when I'm there)...and then I'm back in the States, back in my State and city and community and having to go back to what is "normal" for my own personal culture. It all is a bit confusing sometimes. This is a phenomena I experience after every trip I take (no matter what country or culture I immerse myself in). Re-Entry (and reverse culture shock) can be harsh upon me depending upon how much I allowed myself to integrate into the culture I was visiting.
My goal: Integration throughout.
I always want to be changed because of a place/culture/people I've experienced. I never want to come back the same. And part of my goal is to integrate what I've learned from that culture and who I became because of my experiences of that culture into where I live and what my life is and who I am amidst my own culture.
These are things you can pray for. We're in this together...and I appreciate your prayers as I maneuver through jet lag and re-entry...and adjust back from this trip, allowing for integration in the here and now and look towards the future and to the next trip.
DEBRIEFING:
So once I get through the worst of the jet lag and have also come through the more difficult counter culture shock of re-entry I work on processing and debriefing my trip with members of my Commissioning Circle, along with close friends and family. I also take the time to email and process with my friends in the place I had just traveled to (which is a wonderful way to keep the conversation going post trip).
The more I travel as an art minister, the more I learn about what I need to do to prepare myself for a trip and also what I need to do to help myself upon arriving back home from a trip.
I have found over the years that in talking with people who travel regularly (either for business or vacation or ministry-missions) most people understand the preparation period necessary before a trip, but few understand the period of time needed to re-enter and debrief after a trip. In fact I would say...this is one area that most churches and organizations and even family and friends are lacking in understanding just what is really needed for the return traveler (whether that traveler be a minister or missionary, someone serving in the military or a humanitarian outreach or crisis organization, or even the business traveler or vacationer-anyone going somewhere else for a length of time experiencing different cultures and people).
There needs to be a safe place to land when the traveler arrives home. Much thought and intentional effort in this is needed in order to process through their experiences and allow themselves to integrate in a healthy meaningful way back into their life at home.
Re-entry can be devastatingly harsh sometimes. But it doesn't have to be.
I am blessed to be surrounded by a community of pastors, mentors, and close friends and family and a home church that know and love me dearly and have walked with me through these trips long enough to know how best to help me through re-entry and debrief each time.
It's taken a lot of grace and love and time spent listening to me sharing and time spent responding and asking questions on their part. And it's taken a lot of grace and love and time spent sharing and perhaps even crying as I work through my emotions from what I experienced and listening to their feedback and journaling on my part. I've had to learn to give myself time to adjust (especially when jet lag is a factor) to coming back into my own culture after being immersed in another culture (and seeing it and it's people through the loving eyes of God).
While I'm out on a trip (along with blogging about the things I'm doing and the people I'm connecting with) I communicate with my Commissioning Circle about each day (and gain feedback from them) as a way of helping myself process. I try to spend time throughout a trip and at the end of a trip debriefing with my host connections also. I will journal each day on the trip and process re-entry questions with myself while traveling home on planes. And within my first few weeks of being home from a trip I meet (either all at once or one on one) with members of my Commissioning Circle and other close friends and family to process and debrief my trip. It's all helpful for me and a reminder of the purpose and point of why I'm traveling as an Art Minister.
Helpful Debrief Questions to Journal
These are the questions I journal with myself on the plane home after a trip (credit goes to former leaders of mine for teaching me the importance of this process). I ask these questions about the trip overall and for each art ministry activity, each encounter, each moment that I recognize as a part of the "conversation"...
1) What was God doing?
2) What was God saying?
3) What was the best part?
4) What was the worst part?
5) What is something I could've done better?
6) What is my take away from this trip that will help me with the next trip?
These trips aren't vacations (though I get to experience different places, cultures, people, foods, arts, and recreation along the way). They're about people. They're about relationships. They're specific moments of time spent listening in on the conversations that God is having with people in other places. They're opportunities of getting to enter into those conversations in creative ways that open doors to hearts. And it's in those moments and opportunities that I get to hear God's heart for them...and I get to share His Love with them. And in turn...so often, they share that Love right back to me. And it's a beautiful cross cultural exchange. No borders. No walls. Art is the language that we mutually speak. And the conversation opens hearts towards each other and towards God.
Every trip looks different. Yes.
Every trip I come back changed.
Every trip opens my heart to another place and another people.
I come back displaced.
Every trip shifts my frame of reference.
Every trip messes with how I see my world.
Every trip opens my heart bigger.
Every trip shows me that home is truly where my heart is.
And in the Kingdom...our hearts are home in Him.
Every trip I long for more.
And that's not a bad thing.
This is actually one of the perks of being a Traveling Art Minister.
I am changed...every time.
I've had to learn that it takes time to adjust back. I will be able to integrate what I've learned and experienced from a trip into my daily life here at home...but it takes time. And I am so thankful for friends and family who understand that and get me during the transition period of re-entry. I am grateful for their grace and love.
One of the biggest things I recognize is that though I am called to GO...I know in my knower I can't do this alone. I wasn't meant to. It's a collaboration. We all have a part in this.
There are those of you who are praying for me, for the trips, for the people I'm connecting with.
There are those of you who are financially giving to the trips (one time, monthly, specific trips).
There are those of you who are donating art supplies to the trips.
There are those of you who subscribing to this blog and are listening to the stories of real hearts, real people, and keeping them alive.
There are those of you who are on the other side of this and are receiving me in your homes and inviting me into your lives and your ministries and the people you are loving on daily.
There are those of you who are those very people we're all just wanting to love on. There are those of you who may not even know you're a part of the process but you're vitally important along the way.
It's a convergence of Love!
No part is better than another. We are all needed. Yes, I'm the one going on these specific trips but there are so many people involved in this collaboration and it's NOT ABOUT ME. We are all in this together. We all matter. We are all making a difference by spreading the love of God through creative ways across this globe