I have a good job, a nice place to live, a wonderful family and some fantastic friends. My life is normal. For the first time… ever. I never thought a nice normal life would be so hard to adjust to.

Moving is easy. You know there is something else ahead so you don’t have to worry too much about the present. Staying still is a bit more challenging for me. It’s forcing me to look at my life a bit deeper. If something is wrong I can’t just hope the next move will fix it. There is no next move.

The good news is that I’ve finally found a place where I feel like I belong. Although I get the occasional urge to pick and go to Jamaica, Argentina or Qatar (depending on who I talk to and what turns up in my news feed) I fundamentally know I am happier here than I would be anywhere else. This is a place where (almost) everyone comes from somewhere else and there is no normal. There are city slickers hanging out at posh coffee shops, miners in local bars, tourists in cargo shorts, computer geeks, moms, dads, hippies, business people, drunks and various combinations. The diversity here reminds me of life on cruise ships. I love it. I’ve come perilously close to fitting in.

Unfortunately, in the “Whack-a-mole” that is my life, as the big problems are overcome, previously small problems expand and fill the space. Even in the absence of multiplying problems, there is always the huge mole overlooking the game. “What is it all for?” it bellows. “What is your purpose?” it insists.

So now that there are no big issues that require big changes to focus my attention on, the real challenge is enjoying existence. Not just moments. It easy to be happy in that moment when Oscar goes down the slide at the pool by himself and comes up with water streaming from his huge grin, or when Rich and I are sitting together with a glass of wine watching Game of Thrones. It’s harder to be content in the still moments, those in-between moments where there is nothing to distract you. Just you and the giant mole.

Methinks I need a big hammer.