Whew.
My first weekend in Vancouver was uneventful, which is actually OK. My brain had a chance to relax, unwind and space out. Seems as if it could do with some more relaxing, unwinding and spacing out but, alas, it is not a three day weekend in Canada. Someone suggested that, being an American and “almost Canadian,” I should get both countries holidays off. As nice as that sounds, I don’t think my bosses would agree.
At any rate, I did nothing. Well, almost nothing. I had to venture out to the grocery store. Otherwise, I caught up on Sons of Anarchy and more of In Treatment, watched playoff football and, um, fell sleep during the Packers game.
Lazy weekend. With so much to do still it’s a little hard not to see as a wasted weekend, but then it occurred to me: last weekend I was a conference, and every weekend prior was spent purging and packing. There was little mental rest. The agonizing and stress of getting the visa, the stress of moving and leaving all that is familiar behind. It was enough just to focus on the task at hand, and get through a regular work day while also winding down my consulting company and setting a few other things in motion before the move. And I didn’t take a day or two when I first arrived, I got right to work.
Granted that might not have been the smartest thing, but I’m finding that the sooner I can establish a routine, the better. And establishing a routine is a little trickier than I originally thought.
My typical work day, back in the States, went something like this:
- Get up
- Go running
- #coffee
- Work
- Jeopardy, news and dinner
- Work
- Bed
Some things got swapped out, depending on what was going on. Babysitting, meetups, #smcchicago events. But that’s pretty much what my day was like. And it worked for me. Had a nice rhythm. Not having to commute to an office certainly helped, and that seems to be a bigger factor than originally thought.
Now, my schedule is something like:
- Get up
- Get dressed
- Catch the bus, train and bus
- Work
- Catch the bus, train and bus
- Pass out
I’m hoping that’s just because I’m acclimating and adjusting, still trying to settle in and figure out what’s what. And that’s probably the case. I’m prone to setting ridiculously high expectations for myself, and often get frustrated when things don’t happen in the time frame I had in mind. This whole acclimating and adjusting thing? Yeah, taking too long! I should’ve gone out this weekend, walked around, enjoyed the sunshine since it was sunny, which I’m finding to be a rarity in these parts.
But my brain needed a rest. My brain has been overloaded and need a chance to rest. To process. To regroup. Moving is hard. Moving to a different country and starting from scratch is hard. It’s exhilarating. It’s fun. But it’s also hard, and it’s unwise to discount and ignore that.