It’s officially been six months since our move back to the US from Germany. To say it’s been difficult would be an understatement. I had a really, really tough time adjusting back to life in the US, but I can finally say that it feels like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
Living abroad was my dream. Covid and a few other situations while there put a major damper on what I had hoped for, but, despite it all, we did get to do a lot of travel, which is why we decided to make the move in the first place. If finding different job opportunities in a bigger city in Europe had been easier to navigate, I think we would have stayed longer. I’d still like to make another attempt at living abroad someday. But for now, we are home, and despite a lot of internal denial, it’s finally time to accept that.
My new job is mostly remote, and while it’s been exciting to work remotely from Mexico City and Texas (and soon Florida and Germany), it’s also made it harder to reacclimate to life here. I don’t have any obligation to go into an office a few days a week and have social interactions outside of my home. A lot of my friends moved away from Boston during the pandemic, and with most friends remaining in the area now partnered off (many with fur babies and real babies), everyone has a lot of other stuff going.
When we first got back, everyone I knew was away on vacation and attending weddings all summer—meanwhile, we had little planned as the move was our main focus. It was very lonely, but it forced me to explore the city and meet new people. It’s had its ups and downs, but I’ve met a few people I really hit it off with, and love both the new friendships blooming and the old ones coming back to life now that people have less travel this fall.
If you follow my social accounts, you may have noticed I’ve taken a hiatus from Instagram. I felt I was spending too much time on the app and feeling worse about my situation, as it looked like everyone had all these plans with friends and summer adventures. I’m also sad to see everything leaning toward video, when part of the reason I started my travel account was to share photos. It’s also not lost on me that my own stream of travel pics on social might be causing the same negative thoughts in other people. I think I’ll eventually return, but need to find a better way to be active on it while not letting it affect my mental health (and also figure out how to make cool videos).
In the past six months, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to put myself out there and figure out what I want to do long-term in my career. I’ve always loved event planning and interacting with others (hard-core extrovert over here), and when I was looking to meet new friends this summer, I came across Boston Girls Who Walk, which I’ve since joined as a walk/event leader. I also rejoined Net Impact Boston as their Events Chair, and am working on starting a branch of the Healthier Together podcast club in Boston. In case you haven’t noticed, sitting still isn’t really my thing.
On top of all of that, I’m trying to be more proactive with this blog. I’m working to optimize it for search, promoting it more on Pinterest, and getting around to writing all those travel guides from my trips abroad (new posts include Amsterdam + Ireland). I also recently participated in a project that I’m excited to share, which I’ll hopefully get to do next week.
It all makes me think - do I eventually take a full-time dive into travel writing? Become an event planner? A modern travel agent? Start a podcast? The world is so full of possibilities and while they can, at times, be overwhelming due to the endless options in today’s world, it’s exciting to think that the legacy of my career may still be years from materializing.
So, what do you want to see next from Boston & Abroad? Tiktoks? A podcast? More of the same thing? Drop a comment below and let me know, and stay tuned for all that’s to come.
