I was trying to cram information in my brain all day when suddenly I hit a wall. What was this strange feeling I was expriencing? Oh, I think it might be some sort of exhaustion. Then an idea dawned on me…
Art school was like being on a deserved island for two years with a bunch of strangers from very different lives. None of them understood where you came from or who you were before the island, but you learned to live in your newly created role as castaway. It got almost comfortable in a way. Though you always hung onto some idea that some day you would be “rescued” and thrown back into the “real world”. It was hard to imagine your new life “back home” after returnig from this experience. Then one day you do get rescued. You are an art school graduate/desert island survivor. You find yourself back in your old surroundings, but they are different now. It’s hard to figure out how to feel about them. And everyone around you in your old/new life have no idea what life was like on the deserted island. You try to go back to your old ways and take on old roles. You are expected to behave and perform as if you were never stranded and that makes the world seem very abstract and foreign to you.
Welcome home. It’s going to take a little time to adjust. Remember, the island was real, it will be with you forever, and it is so incredibly important to cherish it. Because even though it was intense and confusing and you had to eat bugs sometimes, it gave you a different way of seeing the world and it has changed you for the better. Just keep swimming.