This seems to be the first year I've really embraced the "life is a journey, not a destination" notion. I graduated from Columbia with a blank slate in front of me and no idea what to make of it. And so far, it's been quite the roller coaster. It's been an incredible year in discovering what is going to work for me post-school life, post-graduation, and post-emerging-adulthood if you will. I'm discovering that this is my narrative, my story, I'm the author, that the best is still unwritten and all that jazz.
I remember sitting at Thai Market in October, with my 3 new roommates, 2 from India, and 1 Indian American, and marveling at the shift my life has taken. From the confusion of working in counseling and not knowing my next step, to realizing that I don't need to know my next step, to just taking it day by day, to embracing every new opportunity that has come my way, I was truly taken aback by the emotion I felt. It was a moment I truly felt connected to the human spirit, to the beauty of life, how it evolves, and how each day can really bring new and unexpected opportunities.
So, 3 jobs, 1 career shift, 1 cross-country relocation, 1 new best friend, and 1 boyfriend later, I've learned the following lessons about life and about myself (with a little sarcasm mixed in) in 2011:
1. I can be my most harsh critic. Redefining failure and success has completely altered my view of the world and the risks I am wiling to take.
2. I have the best friends in the world. I would not, and I mean that literally, be where I am sitting today, without their support. Friends who encouraged me to follow my heart, who let me sleep in their living rooms and spare bedrooms for weeks on end, who fed or bought me dinner, who cheered me on through long days of interviews, through homesickness, loneliness, doubts, all the way to celebrating victories and laughs, and even getting me through a hurricane.
3. The amount of money in your checking account (or the amount of money you owe in student loans) is not directly related to your happiness. That's not saying that I don't still wish that one of those Change.org petitions about erasing everyone's student loans wouldn't magically change my life, but still.
4. My family will always be my family. Cliche I know. And brilliant I know. But, I am learning through all the shifts, that whether or not it's time for my parents to downsize and move in to a different house than what I consider "home", or my brother living in Argentina, or my younger sister having a baby, my even younger sister getting ready to graduate high school, or my older sister flourish in to a successful entrepreneur, that all that is required of me is to reach out and connect and that none of these external changes really matter.
5. I'm going to be ok. It doesn't matter if I live in Arizona, New York, or Timbuktu, if I make 10 dollars an hour or 50, if I listen to myself and what is best for me, I will always find my way.
So as I get ready to head home for the holidays and close out this year, I am thinking of all the people I've been blessed to cross paths with, and resonating with these words:
My Heart is ravished with delight,
when thee I think upon;
All Grief and Sorrow takes the flight,
and speedily is gone;
The bright resemblance of thy Face,
so fills this, Heart of mine;
That Force nor Fate can me displease,
for Auld Lang Syne.
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