Recovering physically and mentally after a big con

The con is over, the car is packed or the shipping label is printed, and you get home and just stop. If you've felt wrecked for two or three days after a big show, that's not you being dramatic. You spent three days on your feet on concrete, running on con-hall food and adrenaline, having the same conversation two hundred times. Recovery is a real part of the job, not a sign you're not cut out for it.

The physical crash

Your body has been standing, smiling, lifting boxes, and probably not drinking enough water for anywhere from eight hours to three straight days. Swollen feet and ankles, a sore lower back, and a scratchy throat from talking over convention noise are all normal, not a sign something's wrong with you.

• Elevate your feet the evening you get home, even just propped on a pillow on the couch.
• Rehydrate properly over the next day or two, not just one glass of water, especially if you were living on coffee all weekend.
• Eat an actual vegetable. Con food is usually convenient, salty, and not much else.
• Give yourself one full day where unpacking is the only productive thing on the list.

Unpacking itself is worth doing properly instead of shoving boxes in a corner for later. Later turns into three weeks, and a pile of inventory sitting in your living room is its own low-grade stress. If your display packs down flat, this part is genuinely fast, fold it, stack it, done, rather than wrestling a folding frame back into an awkward bag at midnight.

The mental comedown

This one catches people off guard more than the sore feet do. You spend three days at a high level of social energy, performing friendly and upbeat even when you're exhausted, and then you're suddenly home, alone, in a quiet house. A flat, empty feeling after a con is really common, some people call it a con drop, and it can hit even after a great show, not just a bad one.

It helps to know it's coming. Don't schedule anything demanding for the day right after a big event if you can avoid it. Let yourself decompress instead of immediately diving into shipping orders and answering every DM. The orders will still be there tomorrow.

A rough recovery timeline

If the flat feeling sticks around much longer than a week, or every show leaves you feeling this way, that's worth paying attention to rather than pushing through. It might be a sign you're overbooking your schedule rather than anything being wrong with you specifically.

What actually helps

Sleep in past your alarm at least once. Take a proper shower, not the rushed hotel-bathroom version. See a friend who has nothing to do with your art business, someone who'll ask how the show went and then talk about something completely unrelated. Go through your photos and sales numbers once you've had a night's sleep, not on the drive home when you're too tired to read them fairly.

Recovery isn't wasted time. It's the part of the cycle that lets you actually enjoy the next show instead of dragging yourself to it running on fumes from the last one.

Curious what a Shapeshift kit actually looks like in person? Head to the Artist Booths homepage to see the full lineup and find the one that fits your table.