Feeling sad after a festival is completely normal!
Have you heard of The Post Festival Blues?
We buy the tickets months if not up to a year in advance, we gather our camping equipment, frantically discuss line ups with friends in a new WhatsApp group, plan fancy dress options or perhaps buy new sequins, relive memories from the last festival and wonder what new experiences and memories await us. The build up to a festival is not too dissimilar to the build up to a wedding. All the planning and excitement as the festival date moves ever closer. And then, quick as you know it, the 4 days of escapism are over, and you are packing your tent and trudging back to the car, ready to be slammed back into ‘normal life’ again whether you like it or not.
The feeling of sadness after a festival is known as The Post Festival Blues and is completely normal. No matter your poison, or even if you spend the weekend sober as a goose, it’s not just about chemical imbalance, it’s the feeling that the thing you were looking forward to for months has now been and gone. Did you make the most of it? Did you miss something you were planning on doing? Did you sleep too much/too little? You can try and plan for a festival but we all know that plan goes out the window once you get there.
I asked my friends and Instagram followers what ‘The Post Festival Blues’ means to them, and how they experience it, and I’ve created this blog post to show their responses, and that the feeling is different for everyone.
What does ‘The Festival Blues’ mean to you?
For me the post festival blues feel like intense sadness. After a weekend surrounded by joy, laughter, colours, dancing, happiness… Then you’re home & back to reality in a flash and it all feels mundane and grey. And for me it’s different to holiday blues because on holiday life is still kinda real and you’re in a place people live etc. A festival pops up for a weekend and then disappears from that spot for a year.
Anonymous, L
I feel empty. It’s both sadness and nothingness
Anonymous, D
It’s like you spend enough time away in that magical place that your brain starts the convince itself that life is this now just listening to music and spending time loving your friends looking at amazing things. And suddenly it’s brought back to earth and you are inside for some reason. There’s no purpose any more and you are no longer a tent person with glitter on your face. A sobering and unfortunate realisation hammered home by the dreaded commute to work the next day where everything is grey and mundane.
Anonymous, M
It’s just a combination of all your favourite things right, friends, live music, your favourite food and drink, (hopefully) being outside in summer, having a valid reason to be a degenerative gremlin, time off work, sometimes paired with being abroad, making an effort with your clothes you can’t wear all year round, then boom, back to normal life.
Anonymous, F
I get a craving to be a nomad, like I want to pack up the 9-5 and just float around and travel. I start looking at flights, land to buy, container homes etc when I get home 😂
Anonymous, H
You spend so long getting hyped for the festival, let’s take Glasto as an example. The hype. The build up, the organising and collecting of camping bits and costumes. The chat, it’s all so intense and leads up to this monumental moment. And then you do the thing and it’s so fleeting and goes in a flash because time really does fly when you’re having fun every second of the weekend. And then when you’re back…. There’s nothing. It’s a giant hole that all the takeaway food, shit telly and sleep simply can’t fill. You miss the fun, you miss your friends, your serotonin is all gone, you’re just a husk.
Anonymous, D
It feels a little bit like a dream that you can’t get back to, it was over so fast.
Anonymous, K
For me it comes because festivals are the only time I truly disconnect and fully take a break from life admin + responsibilities + work + worries, once you get signal again and are back home slowly I remember all the things I need to do and miss the times where all I did was just waddle around with my friends and only worry about when the next act is and when to have the next drink. I miss the days of not caring and worrying but just being in a field basically.
Anonymous, L
Ah such a good question! For me personally festivals are such an overload of emotion and love from friends and strangers. Watching my favourite artists and discovering new sounds. Pushing my mind and body to its limits in search of those beautiful moments. Once it’s done and the car is unpacked, I usually have an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction mixed with missing friends and music. The normality of everyday life, going to work, walking about wondering why everyone isn’t dressed up sparkly and smiling makes me feel resentful towards them.
Anonymous, J
