When the Honeymoon Wears Off

Dear blogging world,

I promise I haven't abandoned you. I've been on a long honeymoon with my job and new home.

The honeymoon was great. Everything was new. New people. New currency. New side of the road to drive on. New job. New food. New life.

I started a new life. I was on my honeymoon with my new life.

But, as we all know; the honeymoon eventually comes to an end. You must go home. Or in my case, you must face reality.

I'm not writing this to make you think I am depressed. Nope. I'm okay, don't you worry. I'm writing because I think it's important for all of us to face reality. And the reality is, you can pack up your life and move to a new country, start a new job and life is great. On the other side of that reality, you must also realize that as humans, we crave routine. We crave relationships and closeness. We crave home.

After a month, my human instincts kicked in. I sat staring out the window at the grey sky and realized, this is home now. For the next year it's grey skies and really expensive calls home. It's trains and taxi cabs. Goodbye Estella, my beautiful car. Home is accents and British food. It's being stared at like a unicorn because you have a different accent. Home is low pay and a high cost of living. End honeymoon right there.

I sat staring out the window wondering when I might see the sun again. Sitting there in a funk of missing my family. Missing home. Dazy haze of staring. Shaking myself off and reminding myself that I'm a fighter. This funk wasn't going to eat me.

But it ate me alive for a week. The honeymoon ended and I just wanted to hop a plane home. Phone calls home consisted of "I'm fine... I'm doing well .... Life is great" .. and I was fine, I was doing well, life was great. But it wasn't home, and deep down, I ain't fine in those moments.

The honeymoon ended and I realized I was stuck in this marriage. But because I'm loyal, I was going to make the most of this marriage and keep my vows. For one week the honeymoon ended and then I realized, I quite liked my marriage. I liked the sacrifices I made to be in my marriage and I was going to fight to make my marriage last.

So, while the honeymoon ended, the marriage continued on. I'm still here. And I'm happy in my marriage to my new life, but I'm still adjusting.

To anyone out there who is thinking about moving to a new country, I promise it's worth it. The honeymoon is great. But don't forget that the honeymoon comes to an end and you need to transition into how to live in the marriage.

To my friends and family back home, if you meet someone on exchange, or someone from another country who has just moved - please adopt them as your own. Even in the midst of someone acting strong and fine, and even when they are fine - they are still adjusting. People make life easier. Relationships make life easier. Don't accept their words of "I'm fine". They are fie, but you can make the difference between "I'm fine" and "I'm good".

#honeymoon #travel #newlife