The Next Chapter
I like to do sequels to my blogs because it sort of shows how my thinking has develops over time (plus also I’ve only have like 4 or 5 good ideas for blogs ever so need to really drag them out ya know?)
8 months ago I wrote this blog titled Un//Certainty
In it I talk about how my adult life has been made up of 1–3 year well defined chapters:
- Sixth Form [2 years]
- University [3 years]
- Working at Warwick SU [1 year]
- First real job in the UK [1 year]
- Living in Detroit [2 years]
And I’ve been thinking about that blog the for last couple of weeks because I happen to be at the end of the next chapter:
- Living back in Norwich, working remotely [1.5 years]
and at the beginning of yet another chapter:
- Living in Chicago
You see I happen to be writing this from a hotel room in the Dominican Republic on an indirect journey back to the states via the US embassy here.
Note to future self: always squeeze in a vacation/trip in between chapter: it’s so underrated and really makes the new chapter seem more meaningful
But travelling is super weird now, and not to mention very anxiety inducing. Having not travelled at all for 20 months I was worried about so many irrational things going wrong: What if I booked something for the wrong day? What if they don’t print my visa? What if my luggage doesn’t make it? What if they don’t let me through customs? What if I can’t communicate because I don’t speak Spanish? What if I can’t book a taxi?
I genuinely lost sleep over all of these things! and you know what? I really didn’t need to. Travelling post COVID is just like travelling pre COVID except you just have to have been vaccinated (tick), test before trips and wear a mask.
It’s honestly as simple as that and way less complicated then it seemed in my head: It’s kinda wild what being locked up for a year and a half can do to you head: the outside world seems like this scary place where things only go wrong, but then you get there and it all just goes fine? It’s nice to be back.
The other thing I mention in that previous was blog which I was quite pleased with was the line “In life, the only thing you can be certain of is uncertainty.”
And that really does feel as apt today as it did back then: As I start this next chapter in my life I have no idea how long it will be for or when it might end: I’m 27 years old and still in what was basically my first job outside of uni, I’m sure life has many more plot twists and chapters left in it, but you know what? I’ve learned now that you can’t predict where life is going to take you in the next chapter, and it would be super boring if you could! You just have to make the most of where you are and embrace the uncertainty of what the next chapter might hold for you.
I think it’s kinda neat that all of my chapters are 1–3 years long as well: it feels like I’m constantly progressing and adapting and moving on to bigger and better things, even if there is a whole chapter which is a big setback (having to leave the states and move back home during a global pandemic). I appreciate that some people only have one chapter in life: they marry their childhood sweetheart and work the same job in their hometown forever. That’s never really appealed to me to be honest, so here’s to the next chapter and many more!
24th August 2021
