Some days life is like water skiing.
There are times you can waterski and boy do you look cool, the water is just right, the speed is perfect, you’re probably wearing sunglasses, everything looks better wet, you ARE glistening, you’ve got the right balance and everyone wants to be you – in that moment – where you are winning at life. It’s beautiful. Can you keep it going? Making it look easy?
Waterskiing, and life, aren’t always predictable.
There are times the boat is going too fast, you are off balance, you got water in your eye, you lose a ski, you are bouncing up and down, you are clotheslined by another skier and you are hanging on by one foot, while you hit every wave, you look like a drowned rat, you are knocking people over, people are shreaking and pointing, children are crying – as you are pendulum flying through the air causing havoc and collecting bruises as you go.
Feeling completely out of control.
It doesn’t take much to go from one version of this water skier to the other.
There are days like this. (read through till the end for the real moral of the story)
I am often asked about what life is really like living in Costa Rica. And, it’s amazing.
It’s also not without its challenges, and it’s also easier to vacation here, than it is to live full-time.
It depends on what your expectations are.
People often believe it will be similar to life where they came from, with the addition of perfect weather and minus the grind and stresses of their ‘ordinary life’.
Somedays it feels like I’m waterskiing like a pro, and somedays the waves play with me like a rag doll.
Warning. I am about to make a lot of generalizations about people wanting to move to Costa Rica. This comes from seeing very similar behaviors repeated over and over and over by people each and every year. There are always exceptions to the rule and anything is possible…but sometimes it helps going into adventures having some awareness that there could be unexpected outcomes and to know how you might prepare for them, and if the situation is really for you. There are many people that sell paradise and often real estate as perfection, and they will be trying to sell that same piece of real estate again when you’ve moved back…
It’s wonderful to experience new places and ways of life, expand your horizon, embrace cultures, touch lives, find ways you can help or leave things better than you’ve found them. Often people decide they are moving to Costa Rica and won’t look back…and then they find themselves looking back, and they’ve burned whatever bridge they took to get here and suddenly they are up a creek without a paddle trying to figure out their plan B. On average the 2-2 1/2yr mark is kind of the test to whether you will stay here full-time or head back.
There are certainly people who discover they are lifers, and can’t see themselves living anywhere else…usually, they see themselves as survivors these people have made it through the trials of frequent power outages and the lack of having what you want when you want it, rainy season which can flood places you didn’t think can flood, where you suddenly forget what having dry clothing feels like, and you may feel isolated if you don’t use this time as a time to really go inward and recharge.
Or some who remain are independently wealthy and come and go as they please on a long-term basis, with the ability to own multiple properties without stressing about sustaining daily life in the meantime.
We know many families that take a year sabbatical to experience life while they live it, to visit different parts of the world with a large stretch of time in Samara, and then plan to go back, and these people usually enjoy their time and miss Samara when they are gone.
In this blog. I plan on sharing a bit of ‘day in the life’… Sometimes it will be the highs, life is beautiful, sunsets and sea creatures, and sometimes there are annoyances. All in all, I wouldn’t trade it.
For some people, the little annoyances add up and become too much.
Remembering to reset is important.
Last night, I tried to distract from my little one’s fear of the dark, by playing sleepy music in his room all night, that way he wouldn’t hear outside sounds.
Win!
He drifted off to sleep in his own bed.
Momma happy dance.
It rained soooo hard last night, it rained dogs, cats, cows, and horses- hard…maybe even a few monkeys and dinosaurs, certainly a crocodile or two.
So hard. (And it always sounds hard on a metal roof!)
Some of the places I have lived in the past would flood – full-on rivers would flow right in-front of my house.
I once saw someone surfing down the road by my house.
(this can even change year to year as your neighbor builds something that completely changes the flow of the rain!)
Flooding is no longer my reality, and I am so grateful.
Skyler woke up this morning at 3am awakened by noises outside and creeped out, so he came into my room and crawled into my bed again, however, this time the dog and cats didn’t go absolutely nuts, thank goodness.
Our neighborhood is quiet, however, for some reason when there is wind, this house is noisy, and sounds like monsters on the roof…which is quite creepy to my kiddo. And the last few nights we haven’t gotten great sleep.
We were pretty tired this morning upon waking up and getting Skyler ready for school.
We discovered thankfully there was no flooding in the house. #gratitude
Every morning is a bit of a tag team, cheering each other on. Skyler enjoys a slow start to his morning, and is always hard to wake up…on school mornings. So it can take a bit of encouragement to get him moving. Sometimes that means music, song, dance, and affirmations, animals, pokemon cards, pillow fights…
Specifically this morning we discovered… Skyler’s shoes were absolutely soaked.
We live in a small town and you can’t always find shoes that fit.
(We know people who stock up on the next size shoes when going to the states)
Here they just don’t always have them, so when we have shoes that fit, we feel lucky.
And when his one pair of shoes goes missing or is out of commission, we suddenly try to go into problem-solving mode…which usually resorts in Skyler going barefoot…. But…. I can’t send him to school barefoot!
We tried to dry his shoes in the sun. But it didn’t work fast enough.
While we are grateful that our current home doesn’t flood.
We don’t have a dryer. Dryers are actually not very common here in Costa Rica.
This is definitely one of the many areas my ‘gringa’ nature shows through.
And not to shame myself, also not proud of it…However, I have discovered for my own personal sanity, a dryer is important to me.
I didn’t always want to admit this to myself, but I’m just a happier person when I can simplify certain repeat obstacles.
I’m terrible at timing laundry in rainy season. To get clothing dry in the small window of sun without getting them rained on again, and getting massage sheets dried on time is nearly impossible without a dryer. Using a manual washer and no dryer/hang dry during rainy season requires devoting the whole day to laundry, which I don’t love and I realize that a dryer is a privilege that many locals don’t have.
We all have different realities we are comfortable with and ways we are raised. Some Costa Ricans still remember what life was like before their towns had electricity, or when they were washing their clothing in the river. I have soooo much respect for this way of life, but I also know myself and if I’m honest with myself, a dryer is important to me and my sanity.
I see this a lot when people come to move down here and their initial rental isn’t in alignment with the standard of living they’ve come from…for some there are just too many adjustments, too quickly and they can’t take it. So everyone has to determine what they really need to be comfortable.
Temporarily, I can be fine with things as they are. I’m happy to camp, love to camp. I’m talking about setting myself up for long-term success. Determining what those standards look like… And massage sheets feel so much better when they’ve been dryer dried…..oppp… here comes the rain again. Really, it’s hard to predict, one moment sun the next rain, the next sun. It’s a certain kind of magic for those who can get their clothing dried on the line in rainy season. I have discussed a dryer with my landlord. This house doesn’t have the proper 220 wire thickness to have one yet, so I would need to have this installed and buy a dryer and then I can have one.
I have done this same exact process in a rental I had prior (not the last rental, the one before, the one before…I’ve done a whole lot of moving lately, but that is for another post). However, then I moved to a rental that already had a dryer and had to get rid of my dryer, and now I’m in a rental without a dryer…yes, I realize this isn’t the most efficient way to go about life. But it is the reality of renting in a vacation area where it is VERY tricky to find actual long-term rentals. And don’t even get me started on the cost of new appliances or the chance of them breaking. Note to self and others. Always put a surge protector on the appliance outlet as the frequent power outages fry the motherboards on appliances, and since they can’t get the replacement parts, they are then useless! Try and avoid this headache!!
Today’s post will be a bit of an overshare, however, I find authenticity and transparency helpful. And there are times when we are shining and times when we just aren’t feeling it, and sometimes I find it helpful when I can see under the surface what people are really dealing with.
So on this particular morning, we could not dry Skyler’s shoes in time and the School dropoff window is 8am to 8:05, we were ready, except his shoe was still soaked. I messaged his principal who recommended I find him boots. I reached out to local stores. They do not have his size….
In the mornings while getting Skyler ready for school, I am also fielding recruiting work, making phone calls, sending emails since Costa Rica doesn’t observe daylights savings we are two hours behind EST.
This morning I was particularly feeling the stress. Normally I deal with a lot of stress and feel like I can easily shake it off and reset… today wasn’t one of those days. Could be that I haven’t slept well lately or just a combination of life things lining up. Be regularly deal with way bigger obstacles and they don’t feel as heavy. So just something I’m making myself aware of…
I have a new candidate starting in a few days. (this is a good thing)
I know she will do amazing, she’s fabulous.
The company is super excited.
However, I always like to check in prior and make sure the candidate has received their on-boarding, has everything they need to start. She was also going on vacation prior to starting, it was pre-booked, but I don’t know the exact days of her vacation, and I haven’t received a response to calls and texts checking in with her, which likely means she’s still on vacation…but this is an ‘unknown’ feeling that I don’t like. Even though I’m sure it will work out because she’s very professional and accomplished…I still like to be 1000% certain.
Well, as much as you ever can in recruiting. I mean who knows, life happens someone could be stuck in a cave somewhere…gosh I hope not. This I believe triggered a lot of the uneasiness I’m feeling in my body today. I think it ties into other fears with being Skyler’s sole provider.
Recruiting is not for the faint of heart.
While I don’t like to think of it as sales, (I like to think of having a positive impact on someone’s career journey…) I’ve heard it described that ‘it’s the only industry where you can try and sell something that decides it doesn’t want to be sold.’
I have several clients dragging their heels about making decisions on good candidates…and it’s the market right now, there is a LOT of indecision.
If I’m honest, it really does work on my nerves.
5+yrs in recruiting, have really worked on my nerves.
I love helping people elevate their careers and get great jobs…
When it’s good, it’s good. – When you have a client who really communicates clearly their needs, gives you feedback on interviews and moves forward with a good timeline and isn’t afraid to hire, and is not looking for absolute unicorn perfection…it’s so beautiful…but it is also, so stressful.
I wish I could hand out jobs like candy.
Here’s a Great job for you, and one for you, and you, here’s a promotion, and a raise!!
Sure pivot, you’ve got transferable skills, here you go!! Early in your career no problem, been at it 40yrs? You’ve still got time! Would be nice if I had that kind of magic.
Mostly it’s pulling teeth to get clarity, or get decisions made…
….and working on 100% commission comes with its own stresses.
At this point, it sounds like I’m complaining and feels like it too, which I don’t like…but I promise I’m going somewhere with this, in addition to the fact that I am trying this out for journaling purposes as a release.
So this morning I had a candidate going for an interview, and an inbox full of people wanting jobs, that I cannot place for various reasons, many of which are all across the globe.
Additional candidates wanting feedback on the status of the interview process…when I don’t have an answer…And I don’t know when I will have an answer…
Not a lot of clarity on whether any of these deals will go through…and I was feeling the stress in my body…a heaviness…a prickliness in my skin… a pit in my stomach.
I needed to focus on work… but I also needed to get my son to school.
But I couldn’t send him with wet shoes, and I didn’t have a dryer because I hadn’t installed one yet, and I hadn’t installed it yet because my first month in a new rental…and this is why I’m sharing this, for full transparency. April, the electricity costs in Costa Rica doubled. At least.
I was only in my rental for 2wks of the electricity, although I had to pay the full month and it was almost $500. This is without a dryer, so I wanted to see if I can bring that down for the following month if it’s just our usage, or if there was a problem somewhere, before adding a dryer to it…Everything just got a bit expensive for a moment with this recent move. I’ve been hearing expenses are going up all over the world. Are you feeling this too? Or do you feel things have said the same where you are?
As it turns out everyone’s electricity costs in Costa Rica skyrocketed this past month because the country’s wind and hydro-electric were not producing and the water levels were down at the end of the dry season. Just as Costa Rica was announcing a plan to ration electricity by cutting it for hours a day…the rains returned, but not before a wakeup call of a bill. People often ask about the cost of electricity here, so even though Costa Rica runs on 98% renewable energy, it’s still important to keep expenses in mind. And I believe when people build they should keep environmentally friendly practices in place, backup solar, graywater collection, etc.
This past April of 2024 was also the hottest year I remember here in more than 10yrs. So, I’m sure that contributed towards costs. We are now being very cautious with our AC use to get an idea of what a normal month will be. I will say where you live and the construction of your home can vary greatly and whether AC is necessary. I lived in several homes where AC was not necessary, however, this home is an oven without AC. So we are navigating that, and we love most everything else about the home…and then hopefully soon we will get a dryer in place.
I also want to be responsible with timing and even where I put my energy, as you never know if recruiting will be fruitful because feast or famine is the name of the game…
I saw a notification come up on my phone that I needed to make a credit card payment immediately, so I put it through, but for more than I meant to pay…ooppss.
Darn, I really need to be careful.
It’s rainy season, so massage is almost non-existent.
I received one request to do a couples massage this Monday at 9am. And at the exact moment that confirmed, I got another recruiting meeting request for the same time. I felt my skin retract and tense.
I have got to get in the flow… Skyler was asking me again about getting Robux, currency in his game, and I already really don’t like the idea that games are figuring out how to monetize children’s time and market to them to spend on glitter. He’s frequently asking about buying them and I’ve mentioned now is not the time, and in that moment that he asked again… I forcefully said ‘Not now’.
It surprised both of us. I apologized if I sounded harsh, I needed to get him to school and not discuss video game currency, when I’ve said we aren’t getting any right now.
Late drop-off time with school is 9:40, which cuts into work a bit more, and also has Skyler miss the first part of his day…and I hate that, but I also need to have his shoe dry for that extra time. And by then it’s at least wearable. We head off to school, and I realize in our misalignment this morning, we also missed trash day. In this moment, I am reminded how good I have it now. And how the life you have now is the one the person you were only dreamed of….
Trash days used to be a nightmare. Skyler would nurse through the night and just as he would be going to sleep. I had to strap him to my back and carry a heavy bag down a dirt road to deliver trash. I didn’t have a vehicle and I couldn’t safely ride my son and the trash on my bike, so I had to walk it there while carrying my son to get the trash there before 6am, and if I missed it, then I’d have to bring it all the way back again. Now, I have a vehicle and trash pickup is at the entrance to my neighborhood. So much easier, unless, the power goes out on trash morning and I can’t get out my gate, which has happened, but still so much easier. Instant #gratitude and a bit of disappointment in myself, which I replaced with reminding myself if the trash waits a few days, it’s not the end of the world.
It’s crazy how we’ve dealt with sooo many obstacles repeatedly and suddenly when there are less, less issues and obstacles, more to be grateful for, and yet in this moment there can still be a layer of anxiety that shows itself some days. I think sometimes when we are in the middle of something and all we can do is push through, we don’t always feel the effects of the stress the same and sometimes when things are actually a bit better, then we do. I’m going to experiment though with getting much better sleep and see what difference it makes. Sleep affects EVERYTHING. I read the book about why we sleep and it only took about 2mins to convince me I really should stop reading and go to sleep….
So, I’m driving Skyler to school, and even though, I should be a in a rush. I am thankfully, OH SO thankfully!!! Not driving fast. As I’m driving, a bicycle who has a stop sign, doesn’t stop and crosses right infront of my SUV and I hit the breaks and come to a complete stop, he’s not paying attention, and if I had been distracted or going too fast. I would have run him over, and it would have been epically tragic. He was practically touching my grill! So all my grievences of the morning, that weren’t really big deals, at all. In that moment seemed microscopic. I had so much gratitude. That my fate today did not involve taking someone’s life in a bloody horrific mess.
What a reminder to shake of my funk and be extra grateful. Even on days where things don’t feel like they are flowing, there is still someone looking out for me. When Skyler and I arrived at school. I said, ‘ok let’s shake it off and start fresh, you can have a really great day at school and enjoy’. He promptly accidently spilled his water bottle. “Mom, can you please go buy a bottle of water and come back so I can fill up my bottle, so I’m not without water?” (we must provide water)
“Ok my love”. I didn’t want a chain of misalignments to continue, so I brought him another bottle of cold water and filled his up. And went on my way. Writing helps shake off the mental congestion, but next is dancing, stretching, and hopefully a really good night’s sleep.
Hopefully tomorrow I’m brimming with enthusiasm and positivity which is certainly my preference….but I wanted to share the transparency of, some days, it’s not there, and that’s ok.
We try for a better tomorrow and set ourselves up for success any way we can. Skyler reminded me in acupuncture we were taught about the importance of the colors of your foods impacting your emotions…I’ll have to think about this too!
~Cheryl
Peace Ambassador, Mom, Massage Therapist and blogger in Playa Sámara, Costa Rica.