Hello and welcome to my blog. I am new to this arena of sharing, but here goes...I am a pretty busy, active person and have always enjoyed doing things. I currently have been working at my job for 5 years and had been perfectly content going through my day-to-day motions until a few months ago... My whole world crashed in front of me as I was thinking about goals. This all stemmed from a conversation I was having with my Dad about my sister, Emily, who in the past few years has set some astounding goals for herself (conquering swims of enormous lakes: Flathead Lake, never swum by a woman, and Lake Chelan, which has never been swum by ANYONE) in order to raise money for two different little girls battling cancer. Now, in order to train to be in shape to do these swims there is a huge amount of dedication, planning, and
goal-setting that goes into preparation leading up to the actual event.
In this conversation, my Dad asked me if I knew if Emily had anything "crazy" planned for this summer. (the events are seen as 'crazy' because they have involved 20-40 hours of actual swimming to complete) This little question got me thinking about the amazing amount of courage, dedication, and goal-setting that she puts into these things. It occured to me after this conversation that I have NO GOALS for myself for the future, nothing that I am working towards, nothing that I actually plan on doing. This got me to a really odd place. I was still going through all my daily motions of work, meetings and such, bringing work home at night, and having so much on my plate that I cannot bring myself to take care of
me because there's "too much to do."
I became a little lost and started to wander a bit from there...I was looking online at night to see what jobs were available in areas that I like, though not satisfied that I was indeed looking to change placement. I started to look at houses in the area, though not sure that I will be in this area long enough to make it a good purchase. I was thinking about my future, about what it held, about what I wanted it to mean to me, where I wanted to be, about what my goals used to be and did these goals still apply from when I was in highschool...I didn't really find a clear place to land, and this went on for about two months, when I got that little itch I sometimes get about wanting to travel and teach abroad.
I reached out to a friend of my brother's, who teaches abroad with his wife, to ask some questions and get some feedback. After receiving some information from him, I started to look into sites he recommended for first-timers. I got this feeling in my stomach that I haven't had in a
looooong time, it was a feeling of utter excitement, granted it was scared excitement, but this 'good scared' is a feeling that I get when I know something is going to be wonderful, but is out of my normal routine, and thus a little scary to make the leap towards. This feeling lasted about two weeks!! I was looking up schools, programs, reading posts of testimonials, articles, any information that I coul find to get more information on what I needed to do to start this process and what the timeframe would be. I did not tell
anyone of this little endeavor, not until it got further down the road.
My anxious excitement has carried me through the end of the school year. It led me to
finally admitting to myself, "I am going to apply to teach abroad," which I actually had to state
outloud in order to know it was real. It led me to sign up with The International Educator in order to look further at jobs and get information on schools and benefits offered. After this step, I finally told my Dad about me plan (who in turn told my sister). He was not too surprised because teaching abroad and visiting China are two things I have expressed an interest in before. He did offer me the customary parental talks about good choices, safety, and researching all the options (which though I knew exactly what was coming, I really love about my parents).
Since then, I have made two other confessions of this plan. One to some friends I met at a concert last year, and two, to a stranger I was talking to at an airport. Now this man was well traveled and had been to several different cities, states, and countries. He is vice president of a non-profit company out of Detroit and had nothing but good things to say about travel, culture, and experience. His final words to me as he boarded his plane were "go to China."
I have long been an advocate of living in the moment, savoring the simple parts of life, and living life to the fullest. You just never know what is going to happen in life, when is going ot be your last day, or the day when you make have your mobility taken from you. There are just so many possibilities, without having to go through life with regrets, either for things you have or have not done. I turned 30 this year, and since that day I have thought even harder and longer about these little mantras that I tell myself and try to live each day by.
I consider myself a happy person. I take things as they come and try to let things roll off my back (some things are easier, some are more challenging). Recently I was returning home from a vacation in Nashville and picked up a book called
The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Ruben. It intrigued me, mostly because of the quote she gives on the back "the days are long, but the years are short." This seems to really fit in with things that I have been thinking about since the Big 3-0. I don't feel any different than when I graduated college, or even high school really. I have many more responsibilities, but I feel mostly the same, yet here I am 6 and 12 years from those landmark events in my life and where am I??? Where do I want to be? How am I going to get there?
This is the start of my journey
, my next thirty years.
Amanda :)
