Post Hike Update

Hey y’all! Long time, no write- sorry about that. I had big plans to get some statistics pretty quickly once I was finished hiking, but then real life set in and-well, I still haven’t really done it.. haha, whoops! If you didn’t know, I’m usually quite the procrastinator, so the fact that I actually did write a daily blog entry for my entire hike is a slight miracle in its own right.

Anyway, the point of this post is to say a huge THANK YOU to anyone currently reading this-if you subscribed and get these emails and take the time to read them, I am so beyond grateful for you, and it was you motivating me along the way.. how could I even think of quitting when I knew there were folks reading about it? That would mean I’d have to write the blog post saying, “hey, I quit today” and that just wasn’t going to happen. So, again, Thank you!

Life has been strange since coming home. It’s been a little over a month and I still feel restless every day-like there’s something more important to be doing. I’ve been struggling with the crowds of people everywhere and the traffic (Dear LORD the traffic), but for the most part I think I’m getting back into the swing of things. I’m very overwhelmed with my closet.. instead of the normal thru hiker that comes home and purges-I keep wearing different clothes every day-because I can! I do think it’s getting time to do a big clean out though.. hmm.. adds that to list of things to do..

I still think about the trail every single day. I miss it. I miss the people I met out there, even when I’m texting with them I still feel like we’re supposed to be setting up camp and boiling water for ramen noodles. I miss the struggle, if that even makes sense? I miss that, “holy crap that was hard-but I did it” feeling-I’m definitely not getting that from laying on my couch watching my Denzel Washington movie marathon (although some of his earlier movies are tough to get through! Haha).

So. This week I signed a local contract to work at my home hospital (Kennestone for those that know), and I start in January. The company I’m working with has already sent me the list of things they need from me and already I’m back to feeling anxious and have a crick in my neck that won’t ease up. It’s literally nothing that I haven’t already done before, but having all of these deadlines and “rules” has my type A tendencies keeping me awake at 4 in the morning (and my procrastination tendencies have me writing this blog post instead of working through the list of documents they need..).

Also, I accidentally reverted back to night shift hours almost immediately. I’m easily awake all night and sleeping until 1 in the afternoon.. then I’m shocked when it’s dark in what feels like only minutes of being awake.. haha.. such is life I guess. But I am happy to be home and seeing my people all the time, visiting family and friends and eating good meals together.. its a lot to be thankful for, certainly.

Anywho.. I realize I’m rambling. I’m sorry about that. Once I get through the required stuff for work I’ll start working on the stats for the trail, like my budget (and how bad I blew it), and the gear stuff, too. I’m also in the middle of planning a trip to Europe with my mom, so I can update y’all on that and try to blog while I’m over there, too! We’ll be gone for 6 weeks starting at the end of April.

Ok, I think that’s all I have, so it looks like I actually have to do some real work now. Lovely. Happy Friday, y’all!