Leases, Commuting and Furniture, OH MY!

I have been back “home” in San Francisco for 3 ½ months, yet with how “settled” I guess I am it feels like it could be 3 ½ years. And were it not for still running into friends asking, “hey how was that sailing trip or your Africa thing?” it might feel as if they never happened.

3 weeks after coming home, I received and accepted a job offer from a company acting as a business network for cleantech, renewable energy and sustainable development. My job as Community Manager is to…get this…architect educational and networking conferences within those fields. I write the agendas, find the speakers/panelists and then promote and produce the events. Within a year, I will have personally met everyone who is anyone in the cleantech field in the Bay Area. Score!

About a week after the job came through, I found an apartment in the city, signed a 1-year lease, and moved in a few days later. It is a large 1-bedroom with parking – very central in the city. Then I went a little Craigslist-happy and started buying actual grown-up furniture…I have a matching bedroom set, a couch, and even a dining area for 6.

And yesterday, I finished unpacking the last box and hanging the last picture on the wall.

I wake up every morning around 6 (ok, I end up snoozing until 6:30), shower, eat oatmeal and ride my bike into work. By 16:30, I’m working out in the gym.

I’m dating, sort of, though that doesn’t seem to be going very well yet.

I even managed to make it out to the desert for Burningman, the mother of all excess, to participate in this year’s celebration of cities: Metropolis.

The irony of it all is not lost on me. I’ve gone from a backpack, albeit a heavy one, to an apartment full of stuff that would require a moving truck and beefy boys to deal with. Whereas I spent less than $300 for my solo travels around Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, my latest credit card bill is five times that. On the boat, my “worries” were about as worrisome as which movie to watch, whether or not it was warm enough to stay up on the flybridge for my night watches without a jacket, and if I had to sew the patch on the damn gennaker again. Here, now, well, I worry about a lot more – though why I do is a good question to ponder.

A part of me feels hypocritical. Did I not learn anything from living sparsely on the bare necessities? Why am I bogging myself down with earthly possessions and legally binding documents? Another part of me feels content with putting down roots, for now, knowing that the big wide world is out there to sail off into and explore when the time is right in the future. I mean, hey, we all know I can do it. .

Someone asked me last night what I came home with after my experiences abroad for a year. I am always noticeably aware of how gluttonous my surroundings are, and how excessive I, just by simply living in this world, can be. (Though my only clothing purchases have been at Goodwill and I always shut off the water while brushing my teeth. Ehem, in full disclosure though, I do linger too long in my luxurious hot showers.) It is very easy to blink my eyes and have a camera click shutter sound go off in my head and see my environment drop away and get replaced by my environment in Namibia. I look at the nice pens and pencils on my desk and flash to the 1-inch shred of wood my learners used to painstakingly copy their notes. The list goes on and on, but it boils down to an awareness, which at this point in time I don’t feel will ever fully leave me, that we in the Western world are blessed and so much of the rest of the planet does without. (Yes, yes, there is the question of do material goods equate to a better life….I’m not going to go there.) AND, there’s a quiet satisfaction that comes with knowing that should I choose, I could toss it all and move to Zimbabwe to teach or sail into the sunset. Last but not least, I am cognizant of my need for and value of deep human connection, making me ever more grateful for my loved ones – my mom, my friends – being able to talk to them every day, hug them and laugh together.

For now though, I am here living a “normal” life in San Francisco. I am happy with my decision to come home. I am proud of myself for recognizing my fears and facing them head on rather than running from them. I feel as though I am in alignment with and in the good graces of the Universe.

Thanks for following. Until the next adventure……….Jen Jackson, out.