update
Alright... by the end of this year, I'll have had my home base in the US for 7 months. That's a long time for me :)
I've enjoyed my time here. I love my apartment and this small city of Raleigh, North Carolina has been as easy to live in as can be. It's been great spending extra time with family and also meeting up with many new people in the area.
With that said, it's clear to me that I'm not experiencing the same fulfillment and excitement for life that I feel when I'm overseas. Actually, it's nowhere close. That's the reality.
So, I'm often left wondering why I'm trying to settle into a more stable life back in the US in the first place. The thing is, when I decided to move to the US, I had two main goals.
First, I wanted to know what it was like to live in my home country as an adult.
Second, I was in search of a community of good people to help give me some stability.
Here's what I ultimately learned:
There's nothing wrong with living in the US of course. There are many wonderful aspects of life in this country. But given my decades of travel and living overseas, living in the US is not for me. I enjoyed it but I'm used to something different and I miss that something different.
Also, I realized that my community already exists, albeit scattered all over the world. Trying to build a new community here in the US is a long, long process. And while I've met some wonderful people here, it makes more sense to stay connected with the unique friends and community that I already have.
Other realizations...
- I still don't want to constantly bounce around the world and live out of my suitcase. A slower pace and some stability is important. It just makes more sense to have that stability in places where I'm more connected.
- Living a stable life in the US proved to be more expensive than my life of travel! Raleigh is a relatively affordable city but with rent, utilities, transportation, food and some fun activities, I spent more per month than when I'm on the road. Get this - earlier this year, traveling to Taiwan, Palau, Thailand, Laos and Malaysia over 3 months cost less than my monthly expenses now. That's nuts.
So there you go...
I feel very fortunate to be able to make these decisions about my life. And yet, I struggle to find my place in this world, just like so many others. All we can do is continue to work hard, listen to ourselves, make the best decisions at any given time and enjoy the adventure along the way.
And right now, leaving the US and heading back overseas feels right.
It will begin with Christmas in Lisbon and New Year's in Morocco. Onward I go!
