Let’s Catch Up

Hi Friend, Happy Saturday! I hope you’re well. This week was not my easiest week. I was having a lot of emotions about some things and it took me much of the week to process those emotions. I even needed to take time off work to just let myself rest because I wasn’t even remotely close to being my best self and just stood at work staring at my computer screen and not even mentally processing what I was doing.

Part of what I have been thinking about also includes this blog. When I started this blog I knew that I got people asking questions about travel, teaching in Japan, and working on cruise ships. I also know that I am a highly sensitive person and have some semblance of emotional intelligence. But as I’ve been going along for nearly a year now, I’ve noticed time and again that my travel knowledge is REALLY out of date. Things change quickly in the travel industry as it aims to always provide a new experience to draw people in. Laws change frequently too regarding what you need for visas or how airport security differs from one country to another. It’s very fast changing and I’ve basically retired from my professional travel days only taking an occasional trip once or twice a year. That isn’t enough to sustain a blog.

I’ve also thought about what my unique perspective looks like as well. Most recently with my Teach in Japan posts, I focused more on my emotional experience as a teacher rather than the “How To” that every other blog out there focuses on. My reality at that time was defined by my emotional experience of everything and it really impacted how I was developing as a young adult person. Issues I already had were exacerbated by the poor treatment and disconnection I felt that I wouldn’t be able to unpack until almost 10 years later when I got a proper therapist. When people ask me about teaching in Japan, my emotional experience is what comes to the forefront of my mind. The same runs true of my cruise ship experience as well.

Miyajima entry.

However, what conflicts me is that I often seem to be one of two people who even care about this kind of experience. (Hi Alice. Thank you for commenting all the time. <3) But it really has me pondering about the future of this blog and whether I even have something valid to offer. Right now the blog just costs me money to keep going. I even attempted to put ads on the site to help with the site costs and the site was rejected for that too and I’m not sure why.

I’ve also been feeling exceptionally drained and burnt out recently. I work a full-time job, I wake at 4:30 AM to carve out time just to exercise uninterrupted before I begin packing my food for the day and taking care of my fur babies’ needs. My commute is often 45 minutes to an hour each way. And when I get home, I have only an hour after dinner and dog walking to decompress before I go to bed and start over again. I started this blog when I had an extra day to work on it back when my job went to a 4 day work week in response to the WGA strike. But that extra day has been gone for a while now and I have been struggling to keep up. Yet I also know that I should be grateful to even have a job right now when so many in my industry are still out of work.

By Chroki Chi

I do have an idea for a different blog that is completely different from this one. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to pay for a whole new website on top of this one. Nor do I have the time to maintain two different websites or write posts for two different blogs. So I am torn and I have some tough decisions to make. I am interested in your perspective too, my friend. Most of the time I feel that I am posting and it just goes into a void never to be seen or read again. Your voice is important to me and your thoughts and perspectives matter. So please let me know how you’re doing and what you think.

That is all I have for this week. Thank you for touching base with me while I try to sort out the future of this blog.

Kristen

Photo taken at Easter last year