If you've been paying attention you'll have noticed that I'm currently taking a pause from travelling. I'm not at home though - I'm not even in Brighton because my house is still rented out so I'm in a weird in-between place both physically as well as mentally.
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Towards the end of my travels in Asia this summer I hit a bit of a wall. I still loved travel but I was really craving the sense of community that you get from staying in one place. I've always dreamt of having a close knit group of friends who want to arrange bake sales, host potlucks, watch movies, cook dinners, and go to protests together but I never really had that in Brighton. It might sound strange but I have it online and I kinda have it in Austin but I can't live there so it's something that I get to partake in for fleeting moments here and there and then I spend more time missing it than I did enjoying it! I know that I want to feel settled somewhere and to build the community I've always wanted but equally I don't feel 100% done with travel. That wanderlust just won't die! I was a little fed up of rotating through the same four outfits and pulling clothes out of my hand luggage sized backpack every day but maybe that just means that it's time for a different style of travel?
I just got the seasonal temp job I applied for at Lush's flagship Oxford Street store, I start Monday and I am more than a little excited about it. I've always wanted to work for Lush, a company whose ethics align almost exactly with my own, and working in London over Christmas is sure to feel pretty magical. I'm excited for the opportunity to work there but I'm also really happy that I now have a solid reason to pause for a while.
I feel like it's so good to stop and think about what the future might hold, to research adventures you'd like to take, and to try to visualise where you'd like to be in five years. Not everyone gets the chance to do that and I feel lucky to be able to choose what I want to do with my life rather than life just being a series of events that just happen to me. Right now I'm dreaming of the Northern Lights, gazing at pictures of New Zealand, contemplating another stint volunteering with Help Refugees, and chatting to people in the know about living in Canada.
With my five year goals in mind I want to figure out how to connect with people whilst disconnecting from the time suck that is social media. I'm not talking quitting Twitter or Instagram but my iPhone doesn't need to be surgically attached to my hand 50% of the time! I want to keep fighting for the causes that I believe in and to fight louder and more often. I want to spend more time learning Japanese and less time watching Netflix. I want to remember that staying active, whether that's protesting or hitting the gym, is good for my mental health as well as my physical health.
I want to continue writing but I need to decide what to do with my blog. As you can see my posts have become a little less frequent in recent months and that's partly because of the indecisive place I'm in right now - I've been chatting to friends about changing the name of my blog because I don't see myself ending up back in Brighton. I've also been thinking about moving to a self hosted site but I'm definitely worried about ruining my SEO rankings and losing most, if not all, of my followers - so, just the little things! What do you think? I'd love to hear some input whether you're a long term reader, an SEO expert, or a first time visitor to my site.