After more than a year of preparing to see Taylor Swift live in Vancouver, Lindsay William-Ross was one of thousands of Swifties who attended the final Eras tour performances over the weekend.
“People were so excited and joyous,” William-Ross said.
“When it’s you and 60,000 people in a room on their feet, waving illuminated bracelets, dressed up … there’s no other feeling like it. It’s unreal.”
But on Sunday night, as William-Ross watched the final show of the tour on a livestream from her living room, a wave of emotion washed over her.
“My son, at one point, had to offer me hugs and console me and tell me everything was gonna be OK,” she said.
William-Ross said she felt trepidatious about the transition back to “real life.”
“It’s like when you have a vacation coming up or like a wedding or a party or a holiday. You have that build up … and I get a little nervous about not having that.”
Mental health professionals say this feeling is to be expected following an event as monumental as the end of the Eras tour, and there are ways to cope with those emotions.
Vancouver-based registered psychologist Julia Somody sees the end of Swift’s tour as a form of loss for those who have been so focused on it for so long.
“People might be feeling sadness, emptiness, anger, they might be bargaining. There’s often a feeling of not being motivated or not feeling as much interest in other aspects of your life,” she said. “This is all, I think, pretty natural.”
Pop sensation Taylor Swift took to the stage for the final night of her record-breaking Eras Tour in Vancouver on Dec. 8.
Danielle Holtjer, clinical director and founder of Skylark Counselling, said there’s a neurological response happening for those coming down off the high of the Swiftmania in Vancouver.
“In the build-up to the event and during the event, our brain is lit up with dopamine … it’s producing so, so much, and then after the event, the brain recognizes that there’s a lot of dopamine in our brains and it stops or it pulls back on the dopamine production,” she said.
Responses to this change, Holtjer added, can be varied.
“There’s no such thing as an overreaction or underreaction. There’s just a reaction.”
Coping strategies
Somody said these feelings could last a couple of weeks, though some might not feel a deep sadness now that the show is over, and others may be in their feels for longer.
She said the most important thing for anyone feeling down right now is to acknowledge it and be comfortable with it.
“Don’t beat yourself up or think there’s something wrong with me because I’m feeling this way,” Somody said.
Finding a way to relive the magic, through watching videos or just thinking about the concert, could be cathartic, she said.
Talking about it out loud is another way to help process the very real, very intense feelings Swift fans are going through, Holtjer said.
She suggests finding a friend or family member who is supportive or talking aloud to pets or plants or even yourself if need be.
“That really helps shift emotions,” she said.
Journalling and even playing or listening to music can also help, she said — something Swift fans likely wouldn’t be opposed to.
Lastly, Somody said Swifties might want to compartmentalize their feelings — setting aside a certain amount of time each day to sit with those feelings of loss.
“We’re kind of priming our brain to say, hey, we are going to give you this time and space and it doesn’t have to be a one-time tsunami of emotions and reliving everything at the same time.”
However Swifties cope with the loss of the Eras tour, Somody and Holtjer agree: the sadness is valid.
“If there are days where, like, we feel like a sudden overwhelm of sadness because an event or something amazing in our life has passed, that’s OK,” Holtjer said.