Journal Entry 3 / October 4, 2019

There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed after you’ve been away for a little while. I love traveling more than I love just about anything and it doesn’t take long for me to start fantasizing about the next place I want to go right after a trip is over. But after I’ve been away from home, even if it’s just for a few days, I can’t describe how much I love laying my head on my own pillow. It’s a really good representation of my split personality and the constant struggle I have between the need for routine and the need for adventure.

I’ve been attempting to get back into a normal day to day life this week which is always a challenge after a vacation. I usually try to give myself a day of downtime after every trip I take just to regroup and prepare for the week but that doesn’t always work out. I’m jumping right into 5 days in a row of bartending this week and still trying to stick to my blog posting schedule, so my time feels a little hectic. I’m a pretty high strung person by nature so I get myself easily worked up when I’m stressed out. I need to work on a meditation practice or something to help me silence my mind when I start teetering too much into Monica Gellar.

Sticking to a blog posting schedule is easily my biggest priority right now. I’ve emphasized the word deadline so many times to myself and to Ryan that the word is starting to lose all meaning. Even now I am scrambling to get this finished before bed, after a full day behind the bar because it’s scheduled to go out tomorrow at 11am and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t. I recently started using Trello as an editorial calendar and actually scheduling things with due dates is helping me structure all the things I have planned for my blog.

I’m trying so hard to just keep my head down and do the work, without thinking too much about any of it. I think I tend to get stuck in my head with the planning process, then sprinkle a lot of not knowing what I’m doing all over the top of it and then I start to spiral a little. I feel like I’ve already wasted so much time worried about the how, what and when of things that I keep getting in my own way. All I can do now is try to get better about it.

This week already feels so busy. I spent the first half of Wednesday (which is my Monday) grocery shopping and meal prepping so that I can detox a little after vacation eating. Not that I’m one to count calories everyday but on vacation I tend to REALLY let go and eat whatever I want. I also took a break from my running schedule. Trying to find time to make that a priority this week will be a challenge and I’m going to try not to be too hard on myself if I falter there a little. Taking on too much all at once is probably not the best way to be successful.

Today I have finally started going through some photos from Boston. I took a gazillion because (much to Ryan’s frustration) I just can’t help myself. Since I am still very much an amateur photographer, I need to practice and try new things with my camera as much as possible. For me it’s also a good way to keep a journal about my travels since I usually go go go so much while traveling that I am way too tired at the end of each day to actually keep a travel notebook. This is especially hard when I only have 4 days to see everything I want to see.

I’ve been to Boston twice in the past so it was nice to visit again with less pressure on what to do. It’s such a beautiful city that just walking around and appreciating the old architecture is enough to fill days there. This was also the first time I went to Boston when it wasn’t the middle of winter and I got truly blessed with some amazing weather. It was just cool enough to make walking everywhere really enjoyable.

I finally got to do some tours that I hadn’t done on previous trips to Boston, the main one being the Freedom Trail walking tour. I indulged in some insanely good food including dining at the oldest restaurant in the country, a super hip Mexican restaurant with incredible food and an authentic Italian place in the North End. The best part of the trip was definitely staying in a luxury hotel that used to be the Suffolk County jail. However, I don’t want to go into too much detail about the trip because I plan on sharing a post or two for Boston so stay tuned for that.

These journal entry posts are providing me with a good sense of release for things going on in my life and I should mention that the response I got from my post last week was extremely encouraging. It’s so hard to know when I’m just rambling or actually connecting to people and I’m always hoping for the latter. I plan on digging deep in these posts and even getting a little uncomfortable sometimes. I want to write without fear and this is a good a time and place as any to start.

Thanks for sticking around. I can’t wait to keep going through this together.

Love, Krystal