So Long Utah.....

So Long Utah.....

I have been mentally writing this post in my head for weeks now.  Late at night jotting down thoughts and memories, trying to find the words to describe my nearly two years here in Utah.  The transformation, the learning process, the adjustments, the excitement and fear of this "next step" in life.  So let me just spill the beans (and a word vomit of feelings below), Katie Wanders is moving back to the East Coast.

Utah was never supposed to be a permanent location for me, and my time here has been (excuse the overused analogy) a wild roller coaster ride.  Ups and down, flipping me around, taking my breath away and leaving me with a sense of exhilaration and new found excitement.  I always knew my time here would end after graduate school, as I would have to put 7 years of education to good use, finding a job, paying off student loans and of course, saving up for adventures to come.  But when that time did come, it left me so uncertain.

By the end of April, after a several month long job hunt, many applications, soul searching, frustration, and time spent staring at the map of the United States wondering "WHERE DO I WANT TO LIVE", I accepted a job back East.  This decision to relocate my life back East, right back to Connecticut was met with sheer excitement but also some sadness, defeat, and betrayal.

Somewhere in my nearly 2 years here in Utah I have grown to love so many things about this state. The reality of packing my belongings and memories into boxes and my final trips into blogs hit me hard.  The mountains I had grown to love, a temporary replacement for the oceans I missed so dearly came to feel like a second home.  The idea of not seeing the Wasatch Range while sipping my morning coffee or walking the dog was a harsh realization. No longer would I be challenging myself while biking up technical trails, or hiking to the top of Utah's peaks.  No more spending time with a group of people that shared my sense of adventure and love of the outdoors that are unlikely to be found anywhere else (thankful for all of you). No more weekends treated like an open book, scheduling adventure, trips to the desert, the pacific, the mountains or the cities among classes and other responsibilities.  Most importantly, I felt this extreme loss of so many lessons I had learned here; this sense of adventure I established and clung to so dearly here out West.

Looking back at the person I was nearly 21 months ago, it's amazing to see the personal changes I have made.  I learned to adapt, to try new things, to let go of the things and routine I had been clinging to for 20 years prior.  To work hard, play harder, and establish a new sense of self.  I arrived an outgoing 26 year old, a passionate horseback rider, scuba diver, and environmental scientist, unsure in my decisions but so ready for a change.  And I left with that and so much more (a mountain bike, a lot of debt, a history lesson on the mormons, and a few new scars to name a few).  But most importantly, a new sense of adventure.

Accepting the job back home seemed like a death sentence for me.  Waiving the white flag to go back to the life and people I knew, and in a way the life that I needed a change from back in August of 2014.  I was upset that I didn't land this dream job diving off the beaches of Hawaii saving the world one critter at a time.  Or that I wasn't living in some new exotic place with a new culture and a whole new set of restaurants to explore. 

But then I stopped and realized that this wasn't an acceptance of failure, but instead a test.  This was a test to see if I could go back to a familiar place and, bring along this new skill set I had learned out here in the west.  The skills I had learned from school, academically and professionally.  The skills I had learned in personal growth, my new sense of adventure.  And the skills I had learned regarding the people who loved me, a much stronger appreciation for family and friends.

This is my long was of saying:  Katie Wanders is leaving the West (for now!).  I am moving back to Connecticut, back to my job I have been working for remotely full time.  I will be living in one of my favorite towns on the Connecticut and (beloved) Rhode Island border, with a whole new territory to explore.  I plan to wander my way around Rhode Island, and take my bike throughout the trails of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.  And, of course, get back some of the things I love.  Horse shows on weekends and Wednesday night group scuba dives.

This girl is moving East, but the blog will continue to wander all over the globe.  This I promise. I will be back to Utah (already have a planned trip for July!) and otherwise have so many fun adventures planned for the summer.  Of course I will have one rad Utah wrap up post, an awesome video, and I don't know - something else.  Thanks for reading, and expect to see a little less mountains and a whole lot more ocean, trees, and flatter land  here at Katie Wanders.

Fondly,

Katie