The other day one of our friends told me as I was recounting our movements for the next few weeks that we were living a peripatetic lifestyle. I had never heard this word before, so they explained it to me. It’s true.
Beyond just our travels, we tend to live this kind of life because neither of us are cut out for “settling down” somewhere. I blame my early formative years on having a feeling of angst if I stay in one place for too long. I can stay within the same country for ages, but living in one place is strange. Also, I blame my parents (or father, really) for passing on the need for changing something whether it is a house or a car/truck. To be fair, they didn’t move around much once I joined the family until I had already left home. π€ͺ
Similarly, M has his ADHD tendencies along with his general inclination to always be looking for the next “big” thing.
While I generally like stability, I also enjoy a sense of refreshment and the excitement that comes with the new. However, these days I think that my tolerance is lowering as along with the anticipation usually comes anxiety. It seems that middle-age for women also brings increased levels of anxiousness, which I really don’t need.
A former therapist introduced me to the concept of chronic anxiety disorder and how it can get absorbed into the body. I know that I probably suffered from it quite a bit when I was younger. I have developed reasonable and effective coping mechanisms to not let it overtake my life, but recently I have noticed that my “buttons” are more easily pushed so that the levels go up rather quickly. Sometimes it is just from driving in the small towns. Sometimes it is my husband’s temperamental mood swings. Sometimes it is not knowing where the pups are. Sometimes rational, sometimes not.
All this to say that my comfort with this peripatetic lifestyle may have a limited expiry date, but for the meantime, we have just returned from a great time in the UK. We are off this week to France and then to Milan just before I head State-side to see my family for the first time in far toooooo long!
I will try to keep updated here, but I make no promises. π
~T π₯πβοΈ
