A life Derailed…

This weekend brought to light something that has been brewing in us for awhile. What happened to us here?? I’m about to divulge some secrets of our new life that you may want to judge in a negative light… However, I ask for your understanding as we are technically still in “transition” mode.

A year ago, I was in the best shape of my life (well, yes, I did have a wedding dress to fit into), kept a clean house, did my errands timely, woke early on the weekends to enjoy the day, had a challenging job, and drank on occasion a few glasses of wine or participated in a happy hour here or there.

Fast forward to March 2008. From far away it appears as it is really March 1998- my college years. We drink heavily and consistently. We don’t have errands to run really because we don’t have a car or excess cash. My clothes fit tighter due to excess calorie consumption and lack of healthy eating options here. Our house goes unkempt unless we have visitors in town. Our laundry goes undone until JP needs something at the bottom of the basket. We wake up at 11am most weekend days because we got in at 2am the night before. What happened to us? I mean, I’m three weeks shy of 30 and living like a 20 year old. We laughed on Saturday as we had all these grand plans for a great workout, lunch out in town, walking around in the city, etc. At 11am when I finally “came to” those ideas seemed minuscule compared to my new plan of just trying to get rid of my headache. We eventually made it out to the gym and such- forcibly because we only have so many weekends to enjoy in London. Seriously though- we are declining- fast.

Many of you reading this have lives that probably are more like our past life- you have kids, family nearby, plenty of things to stay busy with on the weekends. You are probably reading this and thinking- what is she complaining about? I should caveat this to say I’m not complaining per say- but when you watch yourself digress, even if you are having fun, it is disappointing. What we will do to change the situation, I am not sure. It is more of a thing that we’ve acknowledged that we are grown-up yuppie deadbeats and need to find a happy medium so we don’t lose all control here.

Upon reflection with some friends who have been here for over two years now- we have come to find our life here in London is kind of like a mini-vacation. We don’t have the responsibilities we once had at home- house projects and family plans on the weekends, etc. However, it doesn’t feel like a total vacation because we all are working, some of us pretty long hours. It just feels different here- like we owe it to all back home to go out, have fun, travel, etc. and use every opportunity to be out and about because as demonstrated above, life at home is not the same as it is here.

Also, something else that has a huge effect here is that the culture is so different than that of So Cal. I mean, in So Cal, my social life revolved around being healthy and working out- biking or swimming with friends on the weekend, after work a couple nights of the week working out in groups, etc. Here, our social life revolves around the pub. It is Monday and already there are emails floating around about plans for the weekend, plans for a mid week drink here or there. At work one of my directors comes in most days looking like death and complaining of a bloody hangover. People do go to the gym on occasion and go running, etc. But, the predominant thing that everyone has in common here is the pub. The blimey pub with your mates- where the miserable weather and not so nice people here suddenly just all seem to be a tiny detail about life in London that can be overlooked.

So, I think for your sake (because I am such a nice person) I will continue this downward spiral. I will continue to drink heavily, clean sparingly, and sleep constantly because I can… and a year from now when we go home I’ll be both excited to return to our friends, family, and great weather but equally sad to return to normalcy.