What I'm Going To "Do"

Let's rewind a little bit to New Years Day 2012. I did the stereotypical resolution list. However, the things on my list weren't to lose weight or read 'x' amount of books. There were only three items: find the positive in any situation, be thankful for something every day and live in the moment. Call them life improvement goals.

The reasoning behind these goals was to appreciate what was happening as it was happening. I had found myself in a rut, a routine of stress and resentment towards the things that once made me happy.

Fast-forward to now, transitioning from living in Alaska to Japan for the next three years. And with that move, being unemployed...again.

Almost every day since I've quit there's a question of what am I going to do when I get to Japan? Where am I go to work? How am I going to deal with the next three years?

The answer: I don't know. And you know what? I'm one hundred percent okay with that. Thinking back to my resolutions, this is a huge opportunity for me. I can FINALLY explore, something I've been too afraid to do in past. Go on that backpacking trip I regret not doing in college.

And I think I got to this place because of something my father said to me one night when I was seventeen. It was in the wee hours of the morning and I had just gotten home from my second job. I was stressing out about how I was going to work and balance homework and prom and all the things high school kids worry about. He listened to me for nearly an hour and when I was done, he took a sip of his drink, looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Honey, you have the rest of your life to work. Go enjoy yourself."

And he's absolutely right. I'm twenty-six years old. I have at least forty more years of work left in me. So for now, I'm going to revel in the fact I can wear sweat pants every day if I feel like it, wake up whenever I please and do all those things I wistfully told myself I would "someday" do.

Find the positive. Be thankful every day. Live in the moment.