Resuming

And so ensued the inevitable, yet still melancholic, transition back to my previous, “normal” life. I have a hard time with transitions.

It wasn’t all in complete despair though, sweet reunions of  home and family were still on the horizon, need I forget! Home, family, and beginning the next phase of life!

Ah, and this next phase of life was going to be super exciting, possibly almost to the same caliber of my cross-continental solo backpacking trip…  this is the phase of… unemployment, dried up savings, moving back in with my parents (but so grateful for their loving, open arms), and feverishly searching for a job. Not to be all “woe is me” though, because this fate was all self-inflicted of course.

I just put my ‘normal’ on pause for 6 months. While everything else outside of my life continued on in a natural forward surge, as it does, my normal life progression was sort of halted.  I’m in this purgatory where half of me is still traveling about as free-spirited as can be, utterly inspired and in awe with the world, while the other half of me is getting swarmed with sudden adult responsibilities that are mostly, truthfully, uninspiring.

No ease, no grace period. Just an immediate resumption of the static hold I fled from here back in August. This, ladies and gentlemen, has been my anticipated, but nonetheless unforgiving, plummet back down to earth. It’s been a little rough, not going to lie.

Rough because of the weird in-limbo period I am in now,  rough because my heavy heart still mourns for all of the people I left behind, and rough still because I’ve oddly found myself mourning the person I was before I uprooted my life and began traveling - she actually kind of had her sh!t together.

But beyond these anticipated trials of that come with any transition, I also found myself grappling with a bit of unexpected culture shock, trying to swing back into the grain of American life.