This is My Life Now: Dani

Dear Claire,

As Claudia mentioned in her post, we realize that you may be interested in knowing what we are up to and how we are feeling about life at the current moment. Perhaps you wonder about the type of person I am, what my hobbies are, and what’s constantly on my mind. Sure, you can look back in the archives, including my “About Me” page, but this still might not answer all of your questions. Thus, we’ve decided to take this opportunity to give you a snapshot of where we’re at right now. If you have any specific questions and we can help you get a better picture of who we are, let us know!

I’m struggling with unstructured time: The first thing you need to know in order to understand my daily life is that I make my own schedule. It now feels a bit more structured than it used to because for the past three years I’ve worked online, I only had to put in my availability one week in advance which meant I could regularly shuffle around my schedule. Now that I’m working online full-time, I’m getting so many more hours consistently, but it comes at the cost of setting my availability four weeks in advance. I’m fully aware that this is still a great amount of flexibility compared to the average full-time worker, but it’s been a little challenging for me to adjust especially because…

I’m house-hunting: Everyone warned me that the process of searching for and buying an apartment would be draining, but I just don’t think I anticipated HOW draining (and I only know the half of it, as my boyfriend is the one really buying the house). First off, it’s an incredibly stressful situation simply because of all the high emotions (super excited, super disappointed, super frustrated, all on a loop) but add to that the fact that it’s not in our native language and you can probably imagine the toll it takes on the mind, body, and soul. However, I’m super lucky to have a partner to go through the process with and not only will I get the pay-off of a beautiful place to live, but I’ll also have my boyfriend here in my city once this all goes through. For now, I’m just trying to revel in the process.

I’m rediscovering Granada in a new way: Because of the house-hunting, I’ve recently spent significantly more time walking around parts of Granada that I previously never frequented. Sure, I had passed through on my way to private lessons or once en route to a friend’s house, but suddenly it’s more important for me to ‘get the vibe’ of all the neighborhoods and take them in by foot. There’s a part of me that feels like this has re-awakened that ‘tourist feeling’ of discovering something new and being impressed by the sites and sounds around you. On the other hand, it feels like it’s opening a new chapter and creating an even deeper sense of home here, which I didn’t know I could feel.

I’m trying to care for myself as best as I can: Aside from ‘taking in the neighborhoods,’ I feel like half the reason I go out for a walk is simply because I feel like I NEED to. I spend a lot of time at home (because I really like that but, unfortunately, sometimes it works against my fitness and social life) and so I’ve recently been following the advice of a wise friend and just going on long walks. I used to walk twenty minutes to work everyday, sometimes twice a day, and so I was getting moderate movement without even trying. Now I have to put in a little more effort, but I find that this is becoming an important part of my self-care routine. I also take this time to listen to podcasts―which is another relatively new-found joy in my life―and while I typically listen to ones that provide personal and/or entrepreneurial insights I’m completely engrossed in the original season of Serial right now.

I could go into so much more detail about the ups and downs of my everyday life, but I promised a ‘snapshot’ not the entire roll of film! (Do people even know about camera film that needed to be developed anymore…? God, I hope so!) But I digress…feel free to share a bit about yourself, your interests, your habits, your fears, whatever’s on your mind! We’d love to get to know you more deeply.

Sincerely,
Dani