It’s been just over one month since my partner and I moved to Sonoma, California for the 2025 Fall Harvest. It’s been a rollercoaster so far for both of us, but it’s an experience to be had!
I’ve been here since July 30th when my parents and my little brother came with me for vacation before I stayed here and he goes off to college. That first week was filled with travels, tourism, and a few good wine tastings! All of the places that we went were amazing and I couldn’t wait to experience more of it…
Once they left, and my partner and I got settled into our apartment, I started working from home consistently while he went to work harvest at The Donum Estates. While he’s been out working and doing manual labor, I’ve been stuck in a studio apartment working 8 hours a day with no car for the first two weeks and no socialization. It was very difficult to adjust to not being able to go anywhere. It’s not that I wasn’t physically able to go anywhere, it was the fact that to walk to the coffee shop that’s less than a 10 minute drive from the apartment, would take me 30-40 minutes to essentially hike to the coffee shop. If I wanted to explore downtown it was another hour of walking before I even hit the first shops!
Those first few weeks took a toll on my mental health. I have a difficult time with transitions and I always have! When I moved to college 4 years ago the same mentality happens and my anxiety and depression spiked. After one accidental miscommunication for after work and grocery plans, my mental state was not good and I had an emotional breakdown. After that, my partner and I sat down and discussed how to make things better for me while still be accommodating for his work needs. The main concern was the car usage and the fact that he has two different locations to work at that we did not know would be happening. After sitting down and having a long conversation, we were able to work things out where I drive him to work, pick him up, and do most of the errand runs while he’s at work so that we can spend time together when he is home in the evening. When we go out of town or go to wine tastings, he drives since he knows the roads better outside of Sonoma.
Update: Two Months In
Things have gotten a lot better now, but I have realized how difficult it is to work from home. In the beginning it was easier because I was too nervous to go out and explore on my own. Essentially I felt safe in my little bubble and I didn’t feel too much of a need to go out into a new and strange place. After being here for almost two month, I have realized that I don’t like working from home. Things are two quite, the routine is too mundane, and I have very little social interaction. I’ve tried going to a few different public places to work, but I never really interact with anyone unless I’m buying a coffee or checking in at the botanical center, other that that, my only social interaction are from my partner and phone calls from home. I have reverted to trying to make it through each day with as little interaction as possible and avoiding making phone calls for work. I used to do this when I started my internship and I was able to get over it, but now I am too scared to make a call because of the time difference between California and Iowa as well as the random “dead spots” even when my phone is on WIFI that are in the apartment. As much as I love my job, I miss being active and interacting with people all day long.