In less than 2 weeks, I will be 32 years old. In my 32 years in this world, I've learned an awful lot. I've had my share of accomplishments, and I've made my share of mistakes. If anyone had told me two years ago as I approached my 30th birthday that in two years, I would be single, living alone in a four-bedroom house that I own (all by myself without anyone else's help, thank you very much), and that my most loyal companion would be an eleven-month-old beagle, I would never have believed them. But nevertheless, here I am.
Two years ago, I was celebrating my 30th birthday and getting ready to get married. Last year at this time, I was already divorced and in the midst of a brand new relationship. I didn't know it at either of those points, but I wasn't happy, and I definitely wasn't me.
I downloaded the audiobook of Shonda Rimes' Year of Yes. I haven't started it yet, but I'm pretty sure I already know the moral of the story: when you say yes to life, life will say yes to you. For me, it's time to start saying yes.
The point of this blog is chronicle my journey in saying yes to life and all the ways in which my life changes for the better along the way. This isn't a vow to stay single for the next year, but it is a vow to start doing what is right for me and to not lose sight of that. I fully expect that there will be bumps and disappointments along the way, but those are part of life, so I'll take the good along with the bad and keep saying yes to life and yes to me because I am important, and I matter. I decided to publish this as a blog partially for my own accountability to myself and partially for accountability to the people who read it (and also, I know the people who will actually read this find me pretty much hilarious).
I've already gotten a bit of a jump start on saying yes. I've made some new friends and learned how to maintain relationships with people even when it might sometimes be challenging.
When a great friend of mine left to move to Australia, I'll admit that I was slightly devastated. It was kind of a quick decision to go, and I didn't really have time to process it until she was already gone. Even though we didn't necessarily see each other that often outside of work, she was absolutely my work bestie and a great source of emotional support for me. I have been able to maintain a few long-distance friendships over the years, but not that many, and that does scare me. Little did I know that even 11,000 miles away, she would continue to be a great source of emotional strength and support and an overall great friend to me. Friends like that don't come along everyday, and it's something I wouldn't give up for anything in this world. Even though I selfishly wish that she was still here, I can honestly say that I'm happy for her and proud of her that she's saying yes to life and pursuing the life that makes her happiest.
The silver lining in my work bestie moving away is that someone else joined our firm, and now we are friends. Despite a five-year age difference, we seem to have very similar personalities, senses of humor, and life experiences. We also have the best doggies in the whole wide world. It ended up being a win-win for me. I got to keep my friend and I got to make a new friend.
When last year's relationship went down the toilet this summer, I fell into a pretty deep depression. Despite this, though, I did find certain moments of strength. In one of those moments, I went out on a limb and decided to use an online app to try to make new friends. I decided to say yes to the unknown. I ended up making a new friend who is one of the most positive influences on my life right now. Because of her I said yes to boxing, yes to volleyball, and I often say yes to getting off my butt and leaving my house (which is kind of huge for me). Spending time with another person who is engaging in a course of self-care and saying yes has made all the difference to me, even though it may not always be easy for others to see.
As winter approaches and the weather starts getting colder, it's important for me to remember to keep saying yes to getting out and doing things. I look forward to being able to report success in that area. (I realize this first post is mostly serious, but I promise, as with almost everything I do, hilarity will ensue.)
