Adjusting to life in the “real world”

Sometimes you wish you could do it all over again. TD and I returned from our trip in late 2011 and are firmly entrenched back home in San Francisco. At that point, we were definitely ready to come home. Everything got to be too much after a while – the constant moving around, having to unpack and repack every few days, getting your bearings about a new place, meeting new people, telling the same stories. Both of us were tired, missing our people and eager for some stability.

We got married, started working and are happy to be back with friends and family. The adjustment to life and work back in the States hasn’t been an easy one. We struggled with the notion of what path to take – continuing the professional careers we had before or perhaps find an alternative? The consumer culture at home overwhelmed us and left us admiring how other cultures reuse and repair far more often. When we ate out, there seemed to be way too much food on my plate. I remember feeling anxious when driving in the city for the first few months. Everything seemed so fast paced, impatient and loud.

In our long absence, many things had changed. Our friends and family had married, broken up or had babies. We couldn’t participate in a lot of conversations because we had a two year gap in pop culture knowledge. When we left, smartphones were just starting to take off. Upon our return, it seemed that every single person had their face glued to a screen. I remember noticing the disparity of wealth a lot more and wondering what kind of circumstances lead to homelessness. At our core, something fundamental about the way we viewed the world had changed. It wasn’t until we returned home that we could understand how the trip had affected us.

I think it’s safe to say that we are back in the groove of things. We want to buy a house and have kids in the near future. It’s great to be surrounded by a close-knit group of friends that know you and your history. We’ve taken the most important lessons of our travels to heart – live simply, treasure your relationships, express gratitude for what you have, don’t sweat the small stuff, love life and have fun!

Looking back, it almost seems like a dream – did we really do that? The funny thing is, I never would have said that I was going on this trip “to find myself.” In the end, that is exactly what happened.