People pick up and move to an island in the middle of the Caribbean for a myriad of reasons. One of the most common reasons is to slow down and enjoy life more. I honestly thought island time was a joke. WRONG.
Island time is so very real.
I like…no I LOVE…
- Plans
- Details
- Organization
- TIME
- Schedules
These things are almost nonexistent on the island.
I work 2 jobs. One of them, I schedule patients and then expect them to show up at their scheduled time. In my second job, I schedule patients and then I show up when I say I am going to. Only one of those jobs actually runs smoothly. Can you figure out which one?
I have almost been on the island a year and it is a constant struggle for me to adapt to island time. Most people said “oh she will get used to it…” But will I?
Blake and I recently took a weekend trip to Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. We booked flights and a place to stay and that is where our plans ended. We spent the weekend doing whatever we “felt” like on absolutely no schedule. No plans, no times, no details, no organization whatsoever to our weekend getaway. I had an absolute blast. I was stress and anxiety free…because we had no place we were “supposed” to be.
But that’s just it….vacations are for stress relieving. Real life is a mess. It is a mess whether you make plans or not, but with schedules and times, at least it can be somewhat organized chaos. The fact of the matter is, just because I moved to an island doesn’t mean that I don’t have responsibilities anymore. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a permanent vacation down here…yet. My schedules and planning keep me on track to eventually be able to be on that permanent vacation much earlier than I ever thought possible.
While I don’t think the island is going to completely change this about me, I am trying. As for now…I will continue to show up on time. I will continue to get anxious when Blake makes me very late for things (I am greatly improving on this I think). I will continue to schedule things on our calendar that Blake does not look at. I will continue to try to slow down and relax. I will continue to make plans that will inevitably fall through (don’t worry, I probably have a back up plan or two). After all, we are island time right?
The struggle is real.