At the end of the research trip, the strong and intense feeling of the end of a long journey also gives us a sense of achievement. We are mostly apt to be totally burnt out by the end of the trip, but the end of the actual journey itself only marks the end of one particular stage in the project, and the overall journey continues as we move on towards making or producing the final output for our project.
The real goal is actually at the very end of the whole project, after the final output is completed. Once we achieve this, we are able to mark the end of our job as a team, but the motivation of each individual member is extremely important for building towards this end of the chapter. During the journey, there might have been a phrase that someone said while carrying out a certain research or during team meetings, or there might be words from an interview that inspire and come back to the individual. However, these kind of things do not necessarily happen right away, and the dots might only connect after years. What we can benefit from the project ourselves hugely depend on the attitude of each individual. However, it is not a good feeling if someone ends the project with a feeling of uncertainty. It is a conventional idea but it is important to have some sort of after-party, along with the back-office members to mark the end of the project. It is unexpectedly important to share this feeling of completion, especially if the project is planned to be carried out the following year again.
