Posts
First dating game challenge completed: Go to a High School Track.
I was initially a little nervous about this challenge because school is ending this week and I had no idea how to go to a high school track without being a total creeper. Then I read about the City of Kissimmee and the City of St. Cloud hosting the annual Hershey's Track and Field Games at one of the high schools here in town. And they needed volunteers!
I skipped yoga class on Saturday morning to register the 8-14-year-olds for their track and field events. A few cute guys were in attendance, but they were the boyfriends/husbands of the mothers. There was one who was absolutely adorable and we became friends for awhile, but he was 3-years-old. So, as far as the dating challenge goes, this challenge wasn't a great success.
However, I had forgetten how much fun track meets are! Some of the parents were nuts, but all in all, it was great to be helping out at such a great event. I got to talking with some of the people in the Parks and Recreation Department. It turns out they have tons of things like this going on all summer, so this may be something I start volunteering for regularly.
No Mr. Right in sight yet, but I'm all about trying new things that I'd never think to do!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Dating Game
My Tampa love has roped me into something and I have no idea how it will turn out. But, at the very least, it's going to be interesting and fun. :)
After jokingly purchasing the book "1001 Ways to Meet Mr. Right," she and her coworker decided to try some of these suggestions. When she told me about it, my curiousity got the best of me. I am now part of a competition to see if my randomly-selected 10 ways will result in a date. And the roads to love are as follows:
1. Pontoon Boat Party
2. Hit a Hotel Pool
3. justsayhi.com - the online category
4. Aids Walk
5. Poetry Reading
6. Orchard
7. Convenience Store
8. Auditions
9. CD Store
10. High School Track
The goal is to do one a week until they are all completed. I'll be updating my progress here...let the dating game begin!
After jokingly purchasing the book "1001 Ways to Meet Mr. Right," she and her coworker decided to try some of these suggestions. When she told me about it, my curiousity got the best of me. I am now part of a competition to see if my randomly-selected 10 ways will result in a date. And the roads to love are as follows:
1. Pontoon Boat Party
2. Hit a Hotel Pool
3. justsayhi.com - the online category
4. Aids Walk
5. Poetry Reading
6. Orchard
7. Convenience Store
8. Auditions
9. CD Store
10. High School Track
The goal is to do one a week until they are all completed. I'll be updating my progress here...let the dating game begin!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Not going to the chapel
Indiana was great. I'm glad to be back in Florida.
I loved being with my family every day. It gave me the feeling of being a kid again; carefree and playing all day. I spent ample time with friends I hadn't seen in ages, which again provided the carefree feeling, only college-style. Needless to say, I spent plenty of time at Harry's. :)
The end of my vacation was spent bridesmaiding, as I like to call it. Typically I love weddings. I love the dresses, the flowers, the food selection, the music played, the toasting, everything down to the table settings. This wedding was fun, but it made me second-guess my big-wedding-dreams.
I've now stood-up in 3 weddings. And no matter what colors, dresses, and food were chosen, they all have one thing in common: they're kind of a pain in the ass.
I love the whole idea of the wedding. When I have that special someone to spend the rest of my life with, I want to celebrate that with close friends and family. However, spending a year and a half planning for the day of the celebration seems to be more work than it's worth. Yes, you make beautiful memories. But I've come to the conclusion that a wedding brings out the worst in people and can be hell for your family. All the stress and running around and planning now gives me a headache, whereas before I couldn't wait for it to be my turn to run around for my princess-day. Now I see that whether or not you like your future in-laws doesn't matter because there will be some sort of drama with them when it comes to the wedding. There's usually enough drama with in-laws without a wedding, isn't there? Sure, everyone gets along fine after the vows are complete, but was it worth the months of arguing and stress?
My point for all this is not to say that I'm against all weddings and plan to never again attend one. I still like going to them, especially if there's good music and an open bar. I think this was another experience leading me in the direction of the person I'm becoming. Just don't be offended if I invite only my parents and sister to a wedding ceremony on the beach. I'll still want to have a fun party somewhere to celebrate with the rest of my peeps; it might just be at a local wine bar or something instead of a banquet hall.
I loved being with my family every day. It gave me the feeling of being a kid again; carefree and playing all day. I spent ample time with friends I hadn't seen in ages, which again provided the carefree feeling, only college-style. Needless to say, I spent plenty of time at Harry's. :)
The end of my vacation was spent bridesmaiding, as I like to call it. Typically I love weddings. I love the dresses, the flowers, the food selection, the music played, the toasting, everything down to the table settings. This wedding was fun, but it made me second-guess my big-wedding-dreams.
I've now stood-up in 3 weddings. And no matter what colors, dresses, and food were chosen, they all have one thing in common: they're kind of a pain in the ass.
I love the whole idea of the wedding. When I have that special someone to spend the rest of my life with, I want to celebrate that with close friends and family. However, spending a year and a half planning for the day of the celebration seems to be more work than it's worth. Yes, you make beautiful memories. But I've come to the conclusion that a wedding brings out the worst in people and can be hell for your family. All the stress and running around and planning now gives me a headache, whereas before I couldn't wait for it to be my turn to run around for my princess-day. Now I see that whether or not you like your future in-laws doesn't matter because there will be some sort of drama with them when it comes to the wedding. There's usually enough drama with in-laws without a wedding, isn't there? Sure, everyone gets along fine after the vows are complete, but was it worth the months of arguing and stress?
My point for all this is not to say that I'm against all weddings and plan to never again attend one. I still like going to them, especially if there's good music and an open bar. I think this was another experience leading me in the direction of the person I'm becoming. Just don't be offended if I invite only my parents and sister to a wedding ceremony on the beach. I'll still want to have a fun party somewhere to celebrate with the rest of my peeps; it might just be at a local wine bar or something instead of a banquet hall.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Back Home Again
It's been a reflective couple of weeks.
I'm realizing that I like my job, but I don't want it to become my life. I want to have a life outside of work. I want to be able to come home at the end of the day and de-stress, not worry about what happened or what's to come tomorrow. My social network is very important to me outside of work. I don't want to become the 9-5 drone who gets up at 5:30am, works out, goes to work, comes home, goes to sleep, and repeats this process 5 days a week. I'm learning that it's all a balancing act, and that when something gets unbalanced, it throws you for a loop.
My job has been...frustrating. I'm learning from the mistakes I didn't know I was making at the time I made them. I'm learning that I can't please everyone. I'm learning that I am only one person, and that unless I do or think about JA 24-hours a day, there are things that just have to wait until tomorrow. I felt myself turning into a drone, and a cranky one at that. Work was seeping into my car, my apartment, and therefore my free time. And I'm sorry, it's just not worth it.
I need things to be somewhat organized (though looking at my office you would never guess). I need structure, but couldn't quite figure out where that structure was needed in terms of my job. Over the last month, I have allowed anyone and everyone to use my time the way they needed to, which is fine. I work for a non-profit; I can't refuse everyone because I'm tired one day. But, that doesn't mean that I should be catering to everyone's wants and needs. There need to be boundaries. And guess what? I can create them.
I can create schedules to keep me and everyone on task. I can say "NO" because my expectations weren't met. I can feel not-guilty for setting rules and deadlines that someone might not like. There's a reason for rules: it helps us avoid chaos. In my case, it will take less pressure off of me and my volunteers, which I think is a win-win situation if you ask me.
So, my recent revelation of having standards and deadlines was put to the test this week. I'm leaving this Saturday to go to Indiana until the 24th, which means there isn't time for people to argue with me and my rules. And it's actually been working! I'm not mean, just very to-the-point about my schedule. I'm learning that many people just don't do well with having a lot of options. If you give them fewer options, then usually they make a decision quicker (or you can make it for them). Nothing has backlashed yet and most things are in place for next week while I'm gone. Now, tomorrow will be a freaking busy day, but it probably would have been even if I wasn't leaving on Saturday. And when I get on the plane on Saturday, I am confident that nothing will collapse while I'm gone. I don't need to feel so important that I can get away for a few days. Yes, it's a week of work, two of the days being event days. But, I am not the Lone Ranger, and the weight of the world is not on my shoulders. These events will happen and they will be as successful as they can be, with or without me. And I was able to make sure everything was as in-place as I could make it.
Am I tired? Hell yes. A good tired, though. An accomplished tired.
I'm going home to stand-up in a wedding. In between wedding-related events, I plan to hang out with my sister, read a couple of books, and play with my dogs. I have some lunch things planned, but that's about it. A week of nothing but relaxing with friends and family.
I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to go home to Indiana.
I'm realizing that I like my job, but I don't want it to become my life. I want to have a life outside of work. I want to be able to come home at the end of the day and de-stress, not worry about what happened or what's to come tomorrow. My social network is very important to me outside of work. I don't want to become the 9-5 drone who gets up at 5:30am, works out, goes to work, comes home, goes to sleep, and repeats this process 5 days a week. I'm learning that it's all a balancing act, and that when something gets unbalanced, it throws you for a loop.
My job has been...frustrating. I'm learning from the mistakes I didn't know I was making at the time I made them. I'm learning that I can't please everyone. I'm learning that I am only one person, and that unless I do or think about JA 24-hours a day, there are things that just have to wait until tomorrow. I felt myself turning into a drone, and a cranky one at that. Work was seeping into my car, my apartment, and therefore my free time. And I'm sorry, it's just not worth it.
I need things to be somewhat organized (though looking at my office you would never guess). I need structure, but couldn't quite figure out where that structure was needed in terms of my job. Over the last month, I have allowed anyone and everyone to use my time the way they needed to, which is fine. I work for a non-profit; I can't refuse everyone because I'm tired one day. But, that doesn't mean that I should be catering to everyone's wants and needs. There need to be boundaries. And guess what? I can create them.
I can create schedules to keep me and everyone on task. I can say "NO" because my expectations weren't met. I can feel not-guilty for setting rules and deadlines that someone might not like. There's a reason for rules: it helps us avoid chaos. In my case, it will take less pressure off of me and my volunteers, which I think is a win-win situation if you ask me.
So, my recent revelation of having standards and deadlines was put to the test this week. I'm leaving this Saturday to go to Indiana until the 24th, which means there isn't time for people to argue with me and my rules. And it's actually been working! I'm not mean, just very to-the-point about my schedule. I'm learning that many people just don't do well with having a lot of options. If you give them fewer options, then usually they make a decision quicker (or you can make it for them). Nothing has backlashed yet and most things are in place for next week while I'm gone. Now, tomorrow will be a freaking busy day, but it probably would have been even if I wasn't leaving on Saturday. And when I get on the plane on Saturday, I am confident that nothing will collapse while I'm gone. I don't need to feel so important that I can get away for a few days. Yes, it's a week of work, two of the days being event days. But, I am not the Lone Ranger, and the weight of the world is not on my shoulders. These events will happen and they will be as successful as they can be, with or without me. And I was able to make sure everything was as in-place as I could make it.
Am I tired? Hell yes. A good tired, though. An accomplished tired.
I'm going home to stand-up in a wedding. In between wedding-related events, I plan to hang out with my sister, read a couple of books, and play with my dogs. I have some lunch things planned, but that's about it. A week of nothing but relaxing with friends and family.
I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to go home to Indiana.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The rest is yet to come
Why is it that it takes until you're 22-years-old to finally admit that you're growing up? I suppose it's part of the growing-up process, yes?
My job is teaching me a lot. I have days when I think I'm on top of the world and I have days when I can barely keep up. Sometimes I love the running around like a crazy person, yet some days I just want to sit in my office and hide. No matter what is happening, I'm learning more and more about myself and the world every day. And this is what I was looking forward to when I graduated.
I have to say the favorite part of my job is the people I'm meeting. Not just every month, but literally every WEEK. Sometimes for days in a row. I consider myself extremely lucky because the people I meet are much like me. As mentioned in my previous post, I'm meeting people who are motivated and positive thinkers. These are people with which I want to surround myself. Knowing some of these people gives me hope that one of my biggest fears will never come true: getting too comfortable to take a risk.
A lady I trained yesterday told me "if you're smart, you'll move where your job takes you." She had just finished telling me about the journey she and her husband had taken through life. They lived in multiple cities, made great friends in every one, and retired to Florida where they still do so much traveling, they're not even home most of the month. Immediately after chatting with her, I got a chance to chat with someone else I met before and learned about her exciting career path that is long from over. Both of these women are likely older than my mother (who is NOT old, for the record) and are far from leading sedentary lives. In fact, as an intern in college, I met another woman exactly like this. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow. I want to be JUST like her!" And these people inspire me over and over again.
My latest inspiration is my writing. Well, not MY writing, just writing in general. I'm realizing that I LOVE it. I can't get enough of it. Even though I'm completely swamped at work, I'm constantly telling the newspaper to send me more assignments. And this week it hit me: maybe I should be working toward becoming a writer full-time.
Now, no rash decisions have been made yet. I do enjoy my full-time job and see the obvious benefits of being able to pay bills with that income. However, in my free-time, I'm taking the steps to become a freelance writer. I'm starting small with my first client right now, but I'm researching ways to grow my portfolio. There are tons of jobs out there for freelance writers, it's just a matter of me being brave enough to say "here I am, World!"
And that's what I mean about my biggest fear. I don't ever want to be comfortable enough to not put myself out there. I want to keep challenging myself and make some mistakes along the way. I want to be able to tell my story one day with the phrase "I had no idea X would lead to Z later on, but I'm glad I took the chance." I suppose I've done that already, with buying a plane ticket on a whim and moving 1,000 miles away. Honestly though, that's not enough for this girl. I want to keep moving and keep seeing things. I want to keep meeting people and making connections. I want to live my life to the fullest, and for me, seriously pursuing a profession in writing might be the key.
So what's next? Building up my portfolio with more freelancing opportunities and researching what grad school could do for my career. And at some point, maybe a new place to blog about.
My job is teaching me a lot. I have days when I think I'm on top of the world and I have days when I can barely keep up. Sometimes I love the running around like a crazy person, yet some days I just want to sit in my office and hide. No matter what is happening, I'm learning more and more about myself and the world every day. And this is what I was looking forward to when I graduated.
I have to say the favorite part of my job is the people I'm meeting. Not just every month, but literally every WEEK. Sometimes for days in a row. I consider myself extremely lucky because the people I meet are much like me. As mentioned in my previous post, I'm meeting people who are motivated and positive thinkers. These are people with which I want to surround myself. Knowing some of these people gives me hope that one of my biggest fears will never come true: getting too comfortable to take a risk.
A lady I trained yesterday told me "if you're smart, you'll move where your job takes you." She had just finished telling me about the journey she and her husband had taken through life. They lived in multiple cities, made great friends in every one, and retired to Florida where they still do so much traveling, they're not even home most of the month. Immediately after chatting with her, I got a chance to chat with someone else I met before and learned about her exciting career path that is long from over. Both of these women are likely older than my mother (who is NOT old, for the record) and are far from leading sedentary lives. In fact, as an intern in college, I met another woman exactly like this. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow. I want to be JUST like her!" And these people inspire me over and over again.
My latest inspiration is my writing. Well, not MY writing, just writing in general. I'm realizing that I LOVE it. I can't get enough of it. Even though I'm completely swamped at work, I'm constantly telling the newspaper to send me more assignments. And this week it hit me: maybe I should be working toward becoming a writer full-time.
Now, no rash decisions have been made yet. I do enjoy my full-time job and see the obvious benefits of being able to pay bills with that income. However, in my free-time, I'm taking the steps to become a freelance writer. I'm starting small with my first client right now, but I'm researching ways to grow my portfolio. There are tons of jobs out there for freelance writers, it's just a matter of me being brave enough to say "here I am, World!"
And that's what I mean about my biggest fear. I don't ever want to be comfortable enough to not put myself out there. I want to keep challenging myself and make some mistakes along the way. I want to be able to tell my story one day with the phrase "I had no idea X would lead to Z later on, but I'm glad I took the chance." I suppose I've done that already, with buying a plane ticket on a whim and moving 1,000 miles away. Honestly though, that's not enough for this girl. I want to keep moving and keep seeing things. I want to keep meeting people and making connections. I want to live my life to the fullest, and for me, seriously pursuing a profession in writing might be the key.
So what's next? Building up my portfolio with more freelancing opportunities and researching what grad school could do for my career. And at some point, maybe a new place to blog about.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Health Update
This week was an interesting week.
I went for a blood test last week to check my cholesterol. It came back. It's not good.
In fact, it's bad. My overall cholesterol is 246. My bad cholesterol is 20 points higher than it should be and my triglycerides are 80 points higher than they should be. This is really bad. After my doctor appointment, it was time to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I eat out at least a few times a week. It's usually dinners out, or lunches for work. I order whatever I want depending on how I feel and it usually includes fries, a burger if I'm in the mood, cheesy goodness, and a beer or other spirited beverage (except for work things, of course). I drink wine fairly often, usually with my dinner at home or after dinner. I have quite a sweet tooth, so even though I try to stick to frozen yogurt at home, that doesn't happen when I'm out because "I can splurge". Well, these are weekly splurges, which isn't a splurge, it's a habit.
I go back for another blood test in August. I have four months to prove to myself that I am in control. Everything I eat is my choice. Exercising is my choice. So I'm going to limit (not eliminate, for fear of later binging) anything fried, extra sweetened, not whole wheat, and alcoholic. Including my beloved wine that is currently on my wine rack. The good news is that right now, everything I look at that's bad to eat just reminds me of the goo in my arteries. The good news is I like working out. The bad news (well, good in a sense) is that it took my body screaming at me in the form of big red letters reading "ABNORMAL-SEE DOCTOR" for me to open my eyes and realize I'm literally slowly killing myself.
People tell me I'm so young to have this "issue". I'm really trying to not think of it as an issue. At the end of 4 months, if my numbers are all on their way back to normal, that doesn't mean I can "go easy" on myself and eat whatever whenever. This just means that my body reacts to what I do in this way. And I'm ok with that. Do I need the crappy food? No. Do I need the wine all the time? No. I do need to eat and exercise so I can function on a day-to-day basis. I need to take care of myself so I can keep doing the things I love to do.
That was my wake-up call this week. And I've worked out every day and felt good about what I ate all week. It's at least a start.
I went for a blood test last week to check my cholesterol. It came back. It's not good.
In fact, it's bad. My overall cholesterol is 246. My bad cholesterol is 20 points higher than it should be and my triglycerides are 80 points higher than they should be. This is really bad. After my doctor appointment, it was time to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I eat out at least a few times a week. It's usually dinners out, or lunches for work. I order whatever I want depending on how I feel and it usually includes fries, a burger if I'm in the mood, cheesy goodness, and a beer or other spirited beverage (except for work things, of course). I drink wine fairly often, usually with my dinner at home or after dinner. I have quite a sweet tooth, so even though I try to stick to frozen yogurt at home, that doesn't happen when I'm out because "I can splurge". Well, these are weekly splurges, which isn't a splurge, it's a habit.
I go back for another blood test in August. I have four months to prove to myself that I am in control. Everything I eat is my choice. Exercising is my choice. So I'm going to limit (not eliminate, for fear of later binging) anything fried, extra sweetened, not whole wheat, and alcoholic. Including my beloved wine that is currently on my wine rack. The good news is that right now, everything I look at that's bad to eat just reminds me of the goo in my arteries. The good news is I like working out. The bad news (well, good in a sense) is that it took my body screaming at me in the form of big red letters reading "ABNORMAL-SEE DOCTOR" for me to open my eyes and realize I'm literally slowly killing myself.
People tell me I'm so young to have this "issue". I'm really trying to not think of it as an issue. At the end of 4 months, if my numbers are all on their way back to normal, that doesn't mean I can "go easy" on myself and eat whatever whenever. This just means that my body reacts to what I do in this way. And I'm ok with that. Do I need the crappy food? No. Do I need the wine all the time? No. I do need to eat and exercise so I can function on a day-to-day basis. I need to take care of myself so I can keep doing the things I love to do.
That was my wake-up call this week. And I've worked out every day and felt good about what I ate all week. It's at least a start.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Crazy/Beautiful: Life as I know it
I typically feel grateful and lucky each day about my life. Not necessarily all day every day, but at least once a day I think to myself "Wow. My life is pretty awesome."
I pretty much felt this way all week until my Purdue memories came creeping back. One of my best friends came down for a visit. She was at one time the roommate of another best friend who lives in Tampa, so the three of us made sure to spend plenty of time together. And let me tell you: I don't laugh as hard as I did this week except with my sister.
These two phenomenal women came to my apartment last weekend and we shopped, ate key lime pie, watched The Hills, and just hung out. The crazy things we talked about had us keeled over in laughter. Then our visitor and I went to Tampa to have dinner with the third musketeer on Thursday. Between my shoe getting caught on the deck at Bahama Breeze and our crazy waiter who lingered too long in silence before saying anything, we were in tears of laughter on the drive home. Then, the visitor and I said goodbye. It was almost tearful and I couldn't figure out why. Brief background on this visitor: she became my rock after a difficult break-up and we've basically been BFF ever since. We even traveled Europe together. So, as I was driving home from dropping her off and wishing her well on her travels back to Indiana, all these memories came rushing back. I realized I missed the convenience of having my best friends a few blocks away. This turned into missing my family who is normally 20 minutes away. Then it was missing the comfort of all things familiar in Lafayette, IN: something I thought I would NEVER say. So what could I do to get myself out of this sadness? Move closer to my family? Make all my friends move back to Purdue?
Nope. As much as I've known my life has changed (just by 1,000 miles or so), it took having two best friends within a 60-mile radius for me to realize that ALL our lives are changing. Every day. There's not a whole lot we can do about it and things will never be as they were. This isn't a bad thing, of course. We're growing up; things evolve because that's what life does whether or not you want it to. We're not college students, but working adults who are trying to figure out how to live the best way we can. And when I think about all the cool things I get to do on a daily basis, that's when I can pull myself out of the sadness and say "aren't I lucky to have friends and family who, no matter what, love and support me?"
This week at work I met some incredible people. They were truly inspiring to talk to. We shared values and ideas that made me feel so excited to be meeting people with such similar mindsets as my own. These were people who want to change the world like I do. These are the characters I should be adding to my life story: people who will encourage me and join me in making a difference. Whether it's big or small, I think I'm forming a core group of people who want the best for others and will do everything in their power to help.
When I remind myself of the work I do, the goals I have, and the people I'm meeting, I remember that I'm ok. I miss my family. I miss my close friends. But at the same time, if I got up tomorrow and moved home to Indiana, nothing would be the same. I wouldn't be in the place I am now in this community that I'm starting to love. Being a part of my community here gets more important to me every day. For me, that's what life is all about: finding your niche where you see yourself growing and contributing. I have friends here. One of my BFFs is an hour away. I have family here, too. Is it the same as my college life? Of course not, but if it was, I wouldn't be doing half the things I'm doing now. But because of my family and friends, I'm doing things I couldn't do without their support.
Speaking of which, I was offered my first paid writing position. I'll be an independent contractor for a women's news magazine. My first article hasn't been published yet, but was loved by the article's subject. I'm looking forward to what's coming with this opportunity!
So I'm meeting people. Opportunities are around every corner. And I was able to spend nearly a whole week with two people who know me so well, they wouldn't let me get away with whining about my shoe getting stuck in front of a deck full of people.
I think it's safe to say I'm getting used to being a grown-up. And I think I like it.
I pretty much felt this way all week until my Purdue memories came creeping back. One of my best friends came down for a visit. She was at one time the roommate of another best friend who lives in Tampa, so the three of us made sure to spend plenty of time together. And let me tell you: I don't laugh as hard as I did this week except with my sister.
These two phenomenal women came to my apartment last weekend and we shopped, ate key lime pie, watched The Hills, and just hung out. The crazy things we talked about had us keeled over in laughter. Then our visitor and I went to Tampa to have dinner with the third musketeer on Thursday. Between my shoe getting caught on the deck at Bahama Breeze and our crazy waiter who lingered too long in silence before saying anything, we were in tears of laughter on the drive home. Then, the visitor and I said goodbye. It was almost tearful and I couldn't figure out why. Brief background on this visitor: she became my rock after a difficult break-up and we've basically been BFF ever since. We even traveled Europe together. So, as I was driving home from dropping her off and wishing her well on her travels back to Indiana, all these memories came rushing back. I realized I missed the convenience of having my best friends a few blocks away. This turned into missing my family who is normally 20 minutes away. Then it was missing the comfort of all things familiar in Lafayette, IN: something I thought I would NEVER say. So what could I do to get myself out of this sadness? Move closer to my family? Make all my friends move back to Purdue?
Nope. As much as I've known my life has changed (just by 1,000 miles or so), it took having two best friends within a 60-mile radius for me to realize that ALL our lives are changing. Every day. There's not a whole lot we can do about it and things will never be as they were. This isn't a bad thing, of course. We're growing up; things evolve because that's what life does whether or not you want it to. We're not college students, but working adults who are trying to figure out how to live the best way we can. And when I think about all the cool things I get to do on a daily basis, that's when I can pull myself out of the sadness and say "aren't I lucky to have friends and family who, no matter what, love and support me?"
This week at work I met some incredible people. They were truly inspiring to talk to. We shared values and ideas that made me feel so excited to be meeting people with such similar mindsets as my own. These were people who want to change the world like I do. These are the characters I should be adding to my life story: people who will encourage me and join me in making a difference. Whether it's big or small, I think I'm forming a core group of people who want the best for others and will do everything in their power to help.
When I remind myself of the work I do, the goals I have, and the people I'm meeting, I remember that I'm ok. I miss my family. I miss my close friends. But at the same time, if I got up tomorrow and moved home to Indiana, nothing would be the same. I wouldn't be in the place I am now in this community that I'm starting to love. Being a part of my community here gets more important to me every day. For me, that's what life is all about: finding your niche where you see yourself growing and contributing. I have friends here. One of my BFFs is an hour away. I have family here, too. Is it the same as my college life? Of course not, but if it was, I wouldn't be doing half the things I'm doing now. But because of my family and friends, I'm doing things I couldn't do without their support.
Speaking of which, I was offered my first paid writing position. I'll be an independent contractor for a women's news magazine. My first article hasn't been published yet, but was loved by the article's subject. I'm looking forward to what's coming with this opportunity!
So I'm meeting people. Opportunities are around every corner. And I was able to spend nearly a whole week with two people who know me so well, they wouldn't let me get away with whining about my shoe getting stuck in front of a deck full of people.
I think it's safe to say I'm getting used to being a grown-up. And I think I like it.
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