Week 02 (2026-W02): Back to Chemnitz

Rebuilding Rhythm After Travel

Coming home after a big trip sounds like it should feel like relief.

Sometimes it does. Sometimes it feels like your body arrives three days after your suitcase.

This week, we were back in Chemnitz after the holiday travel stretch — Japan, family stops, constant movement — and for the first time in a while, the environment stopped changing. Same bed. Same streets. Same kitchen. Same daily friction.

And that’s when you find out what travel really did to you.

Not in a dramatic way. In the quiet ways:

• your sleep rhythm is off
• your appetite signals are weird
• your motivation is inconsistent
• your brain feels both full and foggy

If Week 01 was “transition,” Week 02 was re-entry.

The trap of re-entry: trying to fix everything at once

The first days back are when people (including me) get tempted to “reset” hard.

New plan. New intensity. New rules. Sudden discipline.

It’s understandable — you want to feel like you’re back in control.

But aggressive resets tend to snap under real life. And I’m trying to build something that survives real life.

So instead of going hard, I went basic.

This week wasn’t about heroic training or perfect tracking. It was about rebuilding rhythm in a way that didn’t create backlash.

The goal: stabilize first, optimize later

In Chemnitz, routine becomes possible again — but routine doesn’t automatically return just because you’re home.

You have to reinstall it.

For me, that looks like a few “boring” anchors:

• Move daily (even if it’s just a walk)
• Get daylight early when possible (helps the body clock)
• Eat simply (not strict, just predictable)
• Choose a bedtime trigger (same mini-routine each night)

It’s not sexy content. But it’s the foundation for everything else — and it’s exactly what busy professionals need when life gets messy.

The bigger lesson: consistency is a mood-independent skill

One thing I noticed this week: motivation fluctuates wildly after travel.

Some days you wake up energized and ready to do everything. Other days you wake up like your brain is still in an airport.

So I’m leaning into a belief that keeps me sane:

Consistency isn’t a feeling. It’s a skill.

A skill means you can do it imperfectly and still improve it over time.

It also means your plan should include “low-energy days,” not pretend they don’t exist.

What I’m building toward

Week 02 also felt like the runway before the next travel phase — because on January 12 I’m heading to Valence, Francefor a sales team kickoff (Mon–Tue), returning home Wednesday.

So this week mattered not because it was dramatic, but because it set up the next test:

Can my system survive another work trip without falling apart?

That’s the real game.

Tiny experiment for next week (under 2 minutes to start)

I’m using a “re-entry minimum” on home weeks:

• 10 minutes movement daily (walk counts)
• water before caffeine
• one consistent bedtime trigger

The rule is: never miss the basics twice in a row.