Status Update: 4 months in (in more detail)

Just a little more details on my thoughts and whereabouts from when I first moved to New Zealand…

4 months and 15 days in New Zealand and I’d accomplished the following:

1. Seen most of the North & South Island (see post here).
2. House sat for a month in a different city (see more here).
3. Gone on 5 interviews in 2 cities (no job yet & post to come).
4. Visited Australia for 5 days (see post here).
5. Limed in Auckland city with a friend of mine that came ALL the way from Antigua! (They traveled for work but they were here nonetheless).

Anddddd a few other things here and there.

However, it’s after 4 months that:

• It began to seep in that I was actually in New Zealand – living, breathing and sleeping on a daily (I wrote something on this too – read it here).
• I began to miss home a bit.
• I felt as though I was kinda in a limbo. I’d realised I was still mentally “in Antigua” and I wondered if it was taking away from my NZ experience. Does one have to leave a piece of them ‘behind’ in order to embrace a new one that’s in front of them? I didn’t want to leave my culture behind. It’s such a huge part of my identity. I didn’t want to immerse. I was afraid I wouldn’t come back up. (I also wrote more thoughts on this here).
• I’m super lucky.
• There are many people living vicariously through me.
• Jobs take a WHILE to come by (or maybe it’s only when you put in the energy?).
• It settled in that maintaining relationships over such a long-distance (17hr time difference) is hard.
  1. It isn’t as easy to communicate with my family.
  2. I actually don’t have my sister with me (we’re very close and have always lived together for all intents and purposes).
  3. My friends each have so much going on, the time difference makes it that much more difficult to keep up/ keep in touch.
• I’ve been fortunate enough to experience and live in two different countries and experience different cultures (Antigua & Barbuda & Canada). I’m even more fortunate and blessed to add a third country to this list (New Zealand). These experiences have allowed me to be that much more flexible and adaptable in situations. Especially in the working world.
• When watching your pennies, you are quite comfortable being in the house majority of the time.

Taking a moment to reflect on life helped me process things, take stock of where I was at and also plan for the future.

To find/make these moments are difficult, but always worth it. (Especially when you look back on them like I tend to do).

In the end, checking in with yourself is never a bad thing.
Don’t hesitate to try it today.

Written on: June 15th 2018