The last couple of months have been quite a blur but, as the dust starts to settle and the particularly frenetic energy of the last few weeks begins to dissipate, I find myself carving out a new little space to work and live and breathe here on the island of Maui. Instead of moving back East, as I told many of you I would, I ended up moving even further West!! Let me give you a little of the backstory...
Reluctantly, after more than a year, I decided that it was finally time to take my leave of the Bay Area. I say 'reluctantly' because it is really difficult to walk away from a good thing! I won't go into detail about all the things that make the Bay Area great- a quick Google search or a flip through a Fordor's or Lonely Planet travel guide can tell you that- but, on top of everything else, I liked my hospital, LOVED my co-workers, and had fantastic roommates. But the cost of living there- and specifically the cost housing- is just unbelievably high. I really want to live somewhere where I can reasonably afford to buy my own home. Somewhere where the traffic isn't so bad and I don't have to worry about my car windows getting smashed (did I mention on the Blog that that happened to me back in January?). But mostly the exorbitant housing costs.
I had also decided that it was maybe time for me to stop traveling as well. Now, don't get me wrong- there are still a million places I'd like to visit and explore. I love the fact that, working as a travel OT, I get to immerse myself in a place for a couple of months, rather than just zooming in and frantically hitting the tourist trail for a few days,a couple of times a year. But, as I approach my mid-30s, the novelty and the excitement of this lifestyle is no longer really outweighing the lack of grounding and the instability that comes with it. I have been a travel OT now for almost exactly 2 years. My dad always talks about my 'gypsy lifestyle.' Parts of this lifestyle that suit me really well- but parts of it don't. I find the in-between times, when I don't know where I'm going or what I'll be doing next, really, really anxiety-provoking. Like, unhealthily so. And over the past few months I haven't been worrying so much about where my next contract would be, but where in the world I would choose to settle down once my travel OT days were over.
I poured over all sorts of 'Best Places to Live' lists: 'Most Outdoorsy Cities,' 'Top Up-and-Coming Cities,' etc. I would narrow it down to a couple of places- and then start second-guessed all my parameters. Nevertheless I persevered: picked a couple of cities, checked the job boards every day, submitted applications, did some interviews, got some offers.
But Jenny, one of my first travel OT friends, recently took a travel job in Hawaii and messaged me on multiple occasions telling me how much she thought I would love it there. At least a third of my OT co-workers vacationed in Hawaii during my time in the Bay Area (a trip to Hawaii for West coasters is the equivalent of going to Mexico or the Caribbean for the rest of us), and my Hawaiian license was one of the first ones I got when I started working as a travel OT. It was always my intention to get to Hawaii in some capacity while I was on this side of the country so, when a couple of Hawaii jobs pop up on the job board, I submitted my application- then went back to planning my cross-country road trip. When I received the offer to go to Maui, I actually left my recruiter a voice message turning it down, telling myself I was making the 'responsible' decision. My friends couldn't believe it and my recruiter called back and said, "Are you serious, Merrillee? No one turns down Maui."
That day Itagged along with my roommate, Nachelle, while she took the dogs for a walk. She tends to see things as much more black-and-white than I do and she also has a great seize-the-day/what's-the-worst-that-can-happen kind of attitude. Moving to Hawaii SOUNDS great, but its not the easiest thing to organize logistically. Nachelle graciously offered to store my things in her entry closet and keep my car parked in her boyfriend's driveway. I felt like the Universe was paving a path for me so I gave my recruiter the green light, cancelled my job interviews for the upcoming week, and booked a plane ticket to Hawaii!
