Transitioning

This was the sunrise on the morning that I left the Ruby Princess.

Well, after three very long travel days, I am home.  (Long story, don’t ask.)  It occurred to me this morning that you might be wondering how that transition is going.  I am also procrastinating unpacking, so thank you for providing me an excellent excuse.

By and large, it’s a remarkably smooth transition.  I have no jetlag, the weather here is not terribly cold (mid-40s), my cat remembered me, and all my luggage made it.  My husband even surprised me at the airport, a wonderful gesture that reduced me to tears of joy for multiple reasons.  (Not gonna lie, those bags were heavy.)  It’s a beautiful day today, and I might go walking around later, just to further remind myself how much I love New York.

That being said, however, there are a few things that are uncomfortable…

1. I feel like a child in my own apartment. This is due to the fact that the ship had seven-foot ceiling heights, while my apartment ceiling is nine feet.  When you’re barely over five feet, those two extra feet make a big difference!

2. I was devastated to find that all but one of my plants had been neglected to death. It’s an easy fix, and who doesn’t love starting over, especially given that we’re going to be looking for a new apartment next month or so, but still, their desiccated corpses around the apartment are quite depressing.

3. I am overwhelmed and slightly appalled by how much STUFF I have. I’ve lived with barely three suitcases’ worth of clothes, shoes, and entertainment for the past eight months, so first on my list this week is cleaning out the house!  Now I just have to figure out to whom to donate it all, since Salvation Army is atrociously unhelpful here in New Jersey.

4. As suspected, part of me misses having my own space. We’re hopefully going to remedy this in our next apartment (a two-bedroom has become mandatory), but right now I feel somewhat lost in this home.  Cleaning it out and redefining a few things will help, I hope.

5. It’s a pathetic anecdote, but I was heartbroken to realize that the cereal I was so eager to eat this morning was the cereal that I left here last June.   Grocery shopping ahead.

Mostly, I am surprised at my own reticence to jump back into life, although I really shouldn’t be surprised at all!  Part of what I did enjoy about my cruise ship life was free time in which to be creative – and boy, did that produce some excellent results.  (Stay tuned for a super exciting blog post.)  So I’m nervous about overworking myself again, and, as a result, I’m procrastinating on everything.  It’s definitely something I can be aware of and prevent, but quite honestly, I’m scared of returning to the workaholic I used to be.  A slow and gentle return to “real life” is more than warranted.

So I suppose I can stand up now and tackle some of these fears, starting with those dead plants!  I do have several more wrap-up posts to share before I’m done talking about this cruise ship experience, so keep an eye out.  And happy almost-February!  Can’t believe we’re 1/12 of the way finished with 2016.

#workaholic #short #travel #ceilings #PrincessCruises #transition #RubyPrincess #reallife