I tried a new yoga studio a few weeks ago. I had been slowly realizing that among the many things that felt like they were missing from my life of late…family, sun, beach, my dog, farmers’ markets…yoga was included. I’m learning that after a big transition it takes a long time to not only feel remotely comfortable in your new place but also to begin building some kind of routine.
Yoga helps. As I was happily sweating away in uncomfortable positions during the class I tried, the instructor encouraged “the regulars” to shake up their practices by trying some new positions, getting out of their routines to challenge their minds and bodies in new ways. “Sometimes a break from normal is exactly what we need,” he said. I couldn’t help but think that what I needed in that moment wasn’t a break from normal, but a whole new normal.
Good friends help. On the days when I feel like I’m barely surviving this new season of my life I realize that I wouldn’t be surviving at all if it weren’t for the wonderful friends who welcomed me in Boston with open arms. Two families, each with the most adorable toddler girls, have taken me under their wings and ensured that I can in fact strive to find a new normal here. During a season when I face tiring encounters with new things nearly every single day, their support and encouragement and offerings of safe spaces that I, too, can call home are tremendously generous and helpful.
So, a few weekends ago I escaped my new 1 mile radius life…home, school, work, Trader Joe’s…and made my way outside the city to K & D’s home in Wellesley. We strolled through a park nearby, threw stones in a pond, sipped cider and caught up over some much-needed comfort food. It was equally fun and therapeutic. A wonderful break from what is, apparently, my new normal.
ginger&jam 
Beautiful photos! I have been practicing yoga on and off for about 10 years, last year I discovered Bikram yoga and it has changed my life! I recommend giving it a try next time you feel like you need a positive change of pace 🙂
I’m so happy to hear you’ve discovered Bikram! I did it for 6 years and haven’t found a studio here yet which is probably not helping my pursuit of normal. 🙂 I miss it! Enjoy it!
I used to be afraid of sweat but now I can’t wait!!
I relocated to Connecticut this past June and after a year of constant changes and knowing that the situation was quite temporary, it took me quite a while for my life here to finally feeling “normal.” I am now faced with moving again and I am hopeful that my next relocation, though potentially still temporary will provide a quicker adjustment after having just gone through the experience. Why is it so easy to loose normal when we move and why does it take so long to find normal?
That’s the question I’ve been wrestling with, Nicole. Especially as I know that in less than two years I’ll make another transition when I (hopefully) move back to California after I finish school. I hope your next transition proves to be easier! Faith in an omnipresent God certainly helps establish a quicker normal. 🙂
Stunning surroundings .. and beautiful photos – love the one with the two milk barrels and the old barn. Understand you came back recharged. Wonderful – thanks for taking me there too, even if I didn’t get to try the food.
Normal never looked better.
Wish you were here!
Starting over is never easy. Settling in to a new routine or “new normal” takes a while and sometimes much longer than we had hoped. The wonderful thing about change though is the opportunity to experience these “new normals” and new life experiences. Life would be so mundane if we never tried new things. By the way this has taken me a long time to accept especially since I will have to find a new normal every two years in very foriegn lands:). Love you cousin!!
Having a loving, always supportive family that we can lean on heavily makes an incredible difference, too. 🙂 I love you so much, cousin!