The stunning late afternoon light at Greta Point.

A little over two months ago, I wrote a post about being in the interim time, and how uncomfortable of a place that can be. The original post was inspired by a poem by John O’Donohue, For the Interim Time, that seemed to describe how it felt being here in the weeks just after I arrived. What is below isn’t the full poem, which you can read here, but these are the verses that spoke to me most at the time.

You are in this time of the interim
Where everything seems withheld.

The path you took to get here has washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you.

As far as you can, hold your confidence.
Do not allow confusion to squander
This call which is loosening
Your roots in false ground,
That you might come free
From all you have outgrown.

What is being transfigured here in your mind,
And it is difficult and slow to become new.
The more faithfully you can endure here,
The more refined your heart will become
For your arrival in the new dawn.

And that’s exactly what happened. It’s taken me a while, but I feel like I’ve finally begun to find my groove here in Wellington.

  • I’ve begun to run into people I know around town. (Two people just today, in fact!)
  • I’m able to give directions to tourists on street corners struggling to find their way from the guidebooks and outstretched maps in their hands.
  • I have a couple of yoga workshops that I’m leading in December at Powa Centre, and will be offering classes weekly on Wednesday and Sunday mornings beginning in January.
  • Also in January, I’ll be teaching yoga at Freyberg Pool and Fitness Centre on Monday mornings for one of the teachers there who will be on holiday for the month.

I’m really excited for all of it.

When I moved to Memphis for my first job out of grad school, the first few months were really hard and really isolating. But right about three months in was when things really started to look up. I began meeting people outside of work and found a group of steady friends that I really connected with. On any given day, I could go to one of the coffee shops in midtown and run into someone I knew. (Admittedly, there were some days when that wasn’t so ideal!) And, I had my yoga studio, which became the center of my community in Memphis during my two years there.

When I moved to Connecticut, it was much harder to build those connections and find a community. It took me about two years actually.

But if New Englanders are known for being reserved, kiwis are famous for being the opposite. And Wellington has so many North American ex-pats too that have been wonderfully welcoming to me. And it means so much to me.

Last night Laura and I went to a wedding, and just had an absolute blast. The wedding itself was really beautiful, and it was great to be a part of it, and to laugh and dance, and just feel truly connected. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.