Reverse Culture Shock & Difficult Questions

The days are moving on and soon we will be home home. There seems to be a common thought coming through from friends there and here - Prepare for "Reverse" Culture Shock.

At first I shrugged it off, thinking I know SA, it's home and so how could we possibly be in for culture shock?

The more I've thought about it, I've wondered if it may be connected somehow to this:

When we moved here, I wrote about where I would love to live (in a city, near shops & maybe a gym, close to all the action). I didn't get what I wanted, but I got what I needed (space and nature) - and that was better. I've learned how to not be busy, how to enjoy the quiet and my own company.

I've had random conversations with friends about going back to our house and town. I've voiced concerns because as much as I love our house, I'm "afraid" of going back to our town.  We've seriously considered selling our house and moving somewhere else, perhaps just within a 50km radius, but I keep coming back to the fact that we have friends there with whom we share so much history, and these are the friendships we've missed. 

Having said that, we are not the same people we were 10 years ago - and neither are they. We won't be just walking back into our "old" friendships in the way they looked before, or into our "old" life as though this last decade never was.  I won't let that happen, we've experienced too much for it not to matter.

Before we left on this adventure, we were happy, we both worked and had a full and busy life, but I don't ever want to be that busy again. I feel as though God forcibly removed us just to give us air to breathe and space to live. So, this decade has been a time of real personal reflection and growth. 

Now, we have to ask ourselves what do we want this next chapter to look like, and how do we want to live it...

However it evolves, we are overwhelmingly thankful we get to live it in our amazing country.