The other side

I am 31 one years old, highly educated and well-traveled but currently unemployed and living with my parents….again. I suppose I just described your average millennial…sigh. My excuse is that I am ‘in transition’, currently living between three countries, my life packed up in boxes, impatiently waiting for the light to turn green. For now though, I’m seeing a lot of yellow. 

The difficulty of being in transition - I find - is that it’s hard to know what you don’t know. The other difficulty is no longer having an address. For example, I return to Sweden in a few days for a three-week visit. That’s what it is now: a visit. I suspect it will feel surreal - staying at a friend’s house because my apartment isn't mine anymore; going back to all things familiar yet feeling like a stranger. I’ll spend time with my friends, frequent my favorite restaurants and cafes, jog my usual route, catch up with my old students and teaching colleagues…and it should feel like home - except that I’m just a visitor now. 

Sweden is my past. It’s where I figured out who I was and experienced the best season of my life thus far. But it’s no longer my home. Spain is my present. Here I have a church, a familiar community, my parents… But this isn’t my home. Lebanon is my future. It’s where my (soon to be) job, apartment and tribe are. It will be my home. But I’m still waiting at a yellow light. 

I hate being in transition. It sucks in major ways. But I know there are so many good things waiting for me on the other side. However long this transition period lasts, the best is still to come. Beautiful sunsets are to be had no matter where I am. 

The sunsets of my:

Past

Present

Future