Hey guys, so I reached out to some of the past Racers that I know and asked them to write us some letters of encouragement/what reentry looked like for them. Maybe these will help us out some as we prepare to go home at the end of the week.
Here is the first one.
Dear 4th Generation X-Squad,
First, I’d like to congratulate you on making it this far, because not everyone can make it through the uncomfortable climates, the people you didn’t pick and probably wouldn’t pick over again, or the bouts of homesickness that come and sometimes don’t leave.
Re-entry is different for everyone, so don’t pigeon hold yourself into thinking it has to look a certain way. Everyone comes from different places, has different circumstances to return to, and processes things differently. However, I hope the Race has equipped you with some new perspectives, freedoms, and vitality, such that you won’t be afraid of re-entry.
It’s a complex process—so I broke it down into numbered sections. —and of course this was just my experience.
For me, Re-entry began in the Beijing airport when half my team left on a flight to LAX, and then I left 8 hours later. Sorrow swept over my body, because I suddenly realized I wasn’t going to be with the people I had spent the last year with. Even if I saw them again the time we had would never quite be the same. Tears came often, and in many ways it felt like a break-up. I had to mourn my team, individual teammates, the squad as a whole, and traveling like we did.
A few of my friends from the race and I got out of LAX, straight from Asia, and used the momentum from the race to begin road tripping across the nation. It lasted a few weeks, was fun and adventurous, but ultimately lacked the rest I needed after traveling for a year. It sounded like a good idea at the time to jump from one adventure to the next, but it ended up exhausting me.
Other friends from the Race corroborated with my finding. One particular individual didn’t stop traveling for months after the Race ended, and they felt like they didn’t know what they were doing anymore. They hadn’t had time to think about it.
At least one member of your squad will probably try to recreate what you had on the Race, but it’s important to understand the season you had with your squad is over. You may travel again, you may travel again with the same people, but the past cannot be relived or regained.
After 11 months of cultural change, new experiences, and trying to understand how to live in different cultures you will have the opportunity to see your own culture with new eyes. You’ll be able to appreciate America anew, and also be disappointed with it new ways too. Some things easily came back to me, like American efficiency, old friends, comfort food, and conversations, but some things were hard to adjust to, like everyone speaking English, not having someone with you all the time, and being the odd man out for being MIA for a year.
One of my best friends got married while I was away, and I was supposed to be his best man. A good friend of mine died while I was away, quite unexpectedly, and another friend had a child. All these people meant the world to me, and I missed these steps in their lives. It was like jumping into an orchestra on the wrong note. —it was hard to get back in synch with them.
On the other hand, the church I had attended while raising support was exactly the same, but it didn’t feel like home anymore. This time I had changed, and I knew it was time to leave.
If things changed it was hard, and if they hadn’t it still took time to adjust.
Not everyone cares you went to a million countries, but even for some of my friends who had blocked out hours to hear about every detail, I couldn’t transplant them to where I had been.
The World Race is a unique experience, and it can feel isolating knowing other people don’t even have a category for what you saw or did overseas.
One of my best friends told me she would help me process verbally for however long I needed, but many hours later I realized I needed her to viscerally understand what I went through. Without her actually experiencing it firsthand herself my request was impossible.
Eventually, months to years after reentry, I told myself to be fine with people not getting it or understanding it.
Going back to Ohio, where there were no other racers, was lonely for me, so I spent my days calling friends from the race. Some people didn’t miss a step, and jumped right into jobs and work within a few weeks of being back, but it was harder for me.
Our squad community checked in with one another, and for a while they and other ex-racers were the people who felt like home.
For me the World Race opened me to new depths of freedom, and I knew I needed to guard the growth I had won.
I didn’t quite know what to do, but it didn’t matter.
Going back to familiar places or people can sometimes steal the growth you experienced while away from them, so I knew I needed to solidify my growth by leaving my despondent environments.
Two months after coming home to Ohio I moved to Georgia, but it probably didn’t matter where I went. I just needed to move instead of sink into old things. It was also incredibly uncomfortable and scary to do. I was beside myself questioning whether I was doing the right thing leaving my comfortable set up in my hometown.
After the Race I got my best paying job to date, and some of the best friends I’ve ever had (they weren’t on my squad). Neither of those things popped up over night, but they were the rewards of taking risks and putting myself out there.
Another one of my squadmates lived in their hometown for a year after the race, They didn’t know what steps to take to get to their goals, so they did nothing different. After talking to them they shared that they felt like they wasted a year for not moving or taking action.
Some people get paralyzed, because they think they need God to approve all the plans they have.
1 Samuel 14 tells the story of Jonathan and his shield bearer taking a philistine outpost. It’s a time of war, and Jonathan decides that some sort of action is needed. Jon just steps out in faith saying, “If this, then that, and if not, then not.” His decisiveness turns the tide of the war for the Israelites, and probably also got rid of that murky, wishy-washy, doubtful feeling.
Step out. If God doesn’t want you to do something He will make it known to you.
Thank You All,
-Stephen Zenner
