I know it hasn't really been that long, but every time I take a little hiatus from my blog, it's not that I don't have anything to write, but I feel like I don't know how to write anymore.
I also recently realised that I've written about what our wedding was like, but I still haven't talked about how married life has been. It's one of the questions I get asked so much as a newlywed, but it's also one of the hardest questions to answer.
Stressful (but a lot less stressful than wedding planning...)
All of the above, all at once.
Honestly, there's a lot to say, but at the same time not a lot to say? Also, tbh when people ask me, I'm not sure what they want from me 😂. It does seem like an awfully personal question, but I'm sure it's one of those polite things people ask to make small-talk.
But yes, married life has been wonderful, because we finally get to come home to each other after the end of the day. Whether my day was good or bad, being around him makes everything that much better.
Getting used to each other's living habits is a bit of an adjustment though, and it is sometimes stressful, but nothing we haven't been able to handle. There are all these little things which require compromise, which you only learn about from being married or living together with someone.
Things like what they eat; the body wash, shampoo or laundry detergent they use (trialling whether or not we want to use the same brand to save space in the bathroom and money buying two or more of the same type of product); sleep habits (for example, he's a hot sleeper and doesn't like too many blankets and I'm a cold sleeper).
There is a bit of an adjustment period, that we're only now starting to get out of. Not just because we've never previously lived together before, but neither of us have actually ever lived with anyone else before, aside from our own immediate family.
As some of you might know, though, I previously lived by myself during my final years as a uni student in a tiny studio. I loved it.
I called my apartment my own little "Koriko"; the city by the sea in one of my favourite movies, Kiki's Delivery Service. I even had a little blog dedicated to it named "My Own Koriko" where I'd write in it like my diary about all my little adventures... All the everyday little things I'd learn about living independently which felt so exciting at the time. It was so much fun. It's a shame I took it down...
It's been tiring because suddenly, living independently, there's always so much to do and not enough time (or energy)! Suddenly as married adults with our own home, time has become so precious. We really have to prioritise things like:
Cooking and meal planning. Oh my goodness, while living at home I seriously took for granted how hard it is to just think of what to eat for the week and plan out our grocery runs...
Exercise. Squeezing in time to exercise is still something we're learning to prioritise, because often if we go to the gym or whatever straight after work, it means we'll end up having very late dinners by the time we get home and start cooking... Sometimes we also plan to go for nightly strolls after dinner, but for some reason lately, it's always been so rainy. At other times honestly, we're just too tired. It's something we both need to get better at. (Also personally, I still haven't found a type of exercise that I enjoy enough to commit to. I used to really enjoy barre and HIIT classes, but the places I went to have closed down, and the classes for the gyms around us sadly don't suit my schedule 🥲)
Cleaning. There's always something to clean. From the kitchen, each time we make a meal (which is 3 times a day), to laundry, to needing to vacuum almost constantly because somehow there's always dust and always so much hair (my hair...)
Socialising. I'm sure a lot of you can relate to how hard it is for schedules to align as adults... Even harder since Covid.
Time with our families. It's a difficult balance spending as much time as we (reasonably) can with our ageing parents (especially after Dad had his stroke), also spending time as fairly as we can with both sides of the family, and wanting our own independence.
Dates. After all, we're a married couple and not roommates.
It's been amazing, feeling like our little apartment is becoming more and more like our own, starting to get into a rhythm of what a typical week at "home" feels like; being able to visualise a little clearer what the future looks like.
Whilst home doesn't feel like my own little Koriko, it's been really nice...
