What does post-Confirmation life entail? The excitement of the day has passed; I’ve experienced the overwhelming support and joy of the Church and my new extended family. I’ve visited countless different parishes and worshiped with countless different groups. I’ve gone on a spiritual retreat. I’ve emerged into my new life ready and raring to go.

And then? I had to settle back into my “real” life.

I was inundated with spiritual matters prior to Confirmation. I had to be—to make sure I was doing the right thing. To listen closely to God and His guidance. But once I settled into my new life, both in the Church and in a new town, I had to get back into the world. I had to work. Clean my apartment. Do all those grown-up things. And little by little, my studies weren’t daily anymore. I didn’t write in my prayer journal as often. I still didn’t have a local parish.

I felt alive at Mass, even as I continued visiting various parishes. Each Sunday morning was a mini homecoming, the relief at being able to spend that undistracted time with God. Recently, I found myself in Manhattan again. I couldn’t resist the chance to stop by St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where I’d spent so much time when I’d worked down the street. And I realized it was the first time I’d been there since Confirmation. Talk about a homecoming.

But with each case, I had to leave.

What now? Where is the balance? How am I supposed to integrate all that I learned, and all that I’ve come to love, into the life He’s given me? My place is in the secular world, but how do I bring God into that? It’s harder than before, somehow. I didn’t have a lot to work with in the before. Now, I have the entire Church behind me and it seems impossible to weave that into an already jam-packed life.

But we start… somewhere. It started with getting up early to pray. To getting back to my prayer journal. It started with a rambling email to my sponsor asking, “What now?” (You thought you were off the hook after Confirmation, didn’t you?) I don’t know what to do. But figuring it out is part of the journey, too.