Some posts on this site contain affiliate links, meaning if you book or buy something through one of these links, I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you!). You can read my full disclosure policy here.
You might have noticed that things have been a little quiet on my end. I haven’t posted anything for two weeks and barely have been keeping my Facebook and Twitter feeds alive.
A nature break never hurt anyone.
In the meantime, I wanted to share with you guys what’s happening in my life and why the sudden silence. There are a couple of reasons for this and hopefully in the next couple of weeks, everything will return to normal.
I was burned out.
You could say, I’ve “bean” around.
I did a crazy amount of travel in the past month. First I was in New York City for my brother’s graduation from Columbia University and then it was off to Boston for a couple days to hang out with family and to play tourist. I was back home for two weeks before setting off to Chicago and Milwaukee for Bloghouse . Who knew so much travel could be a bad thing? I don’t do well with time changes and all the subtle time adjustments didn’t sit well with me. I was constantly tired and my body was stressing out which meant that…
I got sick.
Everything started shutting down. I felt like I had the flu without actually having the flu. Joints ached. I was constantly craving sleep and had headaches. It was my body’s way of telling me that I needed to slow down and just take it one step at a time.
Much like this flat tire I got, I was going nowhere fast. Also, I need to learn how to change a tire.
As I was getting a handle on everything, I had the most intense hay fever attack that I’ve ever had. For days, I croaked and sounded so sick. I was coughing, sneezing and generally just sounded miserable. Everyone told me to go home to rest. But, no rest for me because in amongst all this falling apart…
I got a new job!
I received the offer while I was in Milwaukee for Bloghouse. When I came home, I put in my two weeks notice. Yes, Bloghouse does change lives [though maybe not in the way you think :)]. My last two weeks at my previous job was a hectic two weeks as I raced to finish projects and create all the transition documents needed to help train the next person.
Working hard or hardly working at Bloghouse Milwaukee? Photo: Lisa Lubin of LLWorldTravel.
I’ve had one week on my new job now and so far I’m really enjoying it. I am now the Community Manager for Gastropost Vancouver which challenges food lovers in the city to complete food missions, snap a photo and then share it online. These photos can then be published in one of the city newspapers. There are other branches in Toronto, Edmonton, and Calgary as well. There has been a lot of learning, but I’m excited about the new opportunity and to do something completely different.
My photo (@apwong) was in the Vancouver Sun too!
All in all, it has been an interesting couple of weeks. Life was going full speed ahead and all I could do was hold on. Despite having tons of ideas and a backlog of posts, the blog fell by the wayside.
However, now that things are slowly calming down, stay tuned for some updates. I have a lot of posts coming up about my time in Boston, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Plus, as a result of my time at Bloghouse, I’ll be making a couple of changes around here too.
Add me on Snapchat: packmeto
In the meantime, keep up to date on my adventures by following along on Facebook and Twitter. I’ve also recently started using Snapchat as well which I’m really loving (add me: packmeto).
How do you handle stress when life just becomes too much? Do you ever think that you’ve been traveling too much?
If you’re new to Pack Me To, welcome! Stay on top of my adventures on Facebook and follow me on Twitter & Instagram.
Welcome back and I hope you’re feeling better! Congrats on the new job! 🙂 I want to hear all about your Bloghouse experiences, too! Toronto office for Gastropost, you don’t say…any chance they might be looking for a community manager, too? 🙂
Thanks! Milwaukee and Bloghouse was a very cool experience. Posts coming soon (probably this weekend!). Haha, there already is a community manager in Toronto, but if anything changes I’ll let you know 🙂
Congrats Addie! Despite all the stress you managed to play well during our Ulty games
Thanks Re! 🙂 Ulti is a good source of stress release haha.
Congratulations on your new job, Adeline! You sound very excited about it. So you are moving to Milwaukee now?
Thanks Anda! No, I’m not moving. The job is in Vancouver so I’ll be staying here for the foreseeable future.
Congratulations on the new job and new adventure! Missed you and glad you’re back and healthy! Bron
Congratulations on your new job!!!
Welcome back and congratulations on the new job. This sounds super exciting and I’m happy that you’re feeling better now 🙂
Love, Kerstin
http://www.missgetaway.com
Congratulations on the new job Adelina 🙂 it sounds like fun one!
Looking forward to reading all your Bloghouse updates 🙂
Congratulations on your new job! Sounds like fun! We’ll be in Vancouver in just over a week, so I’ll be looking into Gastropost 🙂
Thanks Maria! Let me know if you need any Vancouver tips or if you want to meet up for a drink / food!
congrats on your new job, and bloghouse sounds interesting, can’t wait to read more about your experience!
happens to all of us! 🙂
Oh, I know how you feel! After our return from Europe at the end of May, I completely lost my Muse. I didn’t feel like writing, was so tired, and the blog was the absolute last thing on my mind. Some good ol’ R&R can do wonders, though! Looking forward to reading your thoughts on Boston (my family’s stomping grounds)!
Exactly! You’ve perfectly summed up my current feelings. Mostly just recuperating and focusing on the new job 🙂
Congratulations on the new job! All the best in it,I hope it is more fulfilling than your previous one.
Thanks Rachael!
Congratulations on the new job. It sounds exciting and exactly something that you’d be well suited for, which is probably why they hired you. I don’t know if I’ve ever been on the verge of travel burnout, but if I have too many trips close together, I feel like I’m gorging myself without fully appreciating every moment. You’ve now got me interested in hearing more about Bloghouse.
Thanks Michele! My biggest lesson learned is that I can’t do too many trips back to back. I need recovery time!
Congratulations and welcome back. That sounds like a great opportunity and right up your alley 🙂 I’m glad you’ve taken some time to destress. I don’t think I’ve ever had travel burnout but had a blogging burnout last year. I’ve known a few people who attended Bloghouse and they enjoyed it so I’m looking forward to your post as well as about your travels.
Thanks Mary! I know what you mean about blogging burn out. I get it every so often. I think I’m coming back from one right now. It’s tough to constantly keep going!
Wow congrats on the new job!! It sounds amazing and like a food lover’s dream!!
I feel burnout too with constant traveling, and sometimes I just need a break from always writing writing writing for the blog. I took a really long break too and am just now starting to get back into it. It’s okay, it happens to everyone! Just go at the pace you’re comfortable with. 🙂
I’m looking forward to hearing about bloghouse too. I’ve never attended any of those conferences.
Thanks Anna! One month in and it definitely is a food lover’s dream. I can’t believe I get paid to look at photos of food all day 🙂 It does seem like you’ve been doing a lot of traveling, but I think its totally okay to take a step back and just chill. Hopefully, we can both get back to enjoying blogging more.