Enjoy The Little Things

There are so many magical and exciting things happening in your twenties, big and small, why wouldn’t you take the time to appreciate them? I’m in this place in my life where I don’t have everything together. I don’t have my dream job, my own place, my dream car, or my dream guy. The thing is though, I’m good with it, because right now is not the time for any of that. Right now is the time for me to get it together and start building towards all those dreams. And while I’m beyond excited for the day I get to have all of those dreams realized, I’m also perfectly happy with the life I’m living in the meantime.



For instance, a few days ago, I went on a date with myself and it was one of the best nights I’d had in a while. I went to the movies, got some dinner, had a glass of wine, and it was absolutely lovely. I’ve come to realize that I truly love being in my own company and I think this is the biggest little thing to enjoy. Some people hate being alone, can’t stand the silence, or don’t know themselves enough to love being alone, but that’s simply not me. I’ve always considered myself an independent person, but it wasn’t until this past year or so that I’ve learned to know my mind as well as I do now and to listen to myself more earnestly. It can be a long process getting to know, accepting and loving yourself, but it is so worth it. Of course I enjoy the company of others as well, and I do hope there will be someone I can share my life with in the near future, but in the meantime it is comforting to be happy in my own company.


This time in life can be a struggle to find out who you really are or what you really want and that’s okay because that’s what your twenties are for. There are so many ups and downs, but the important thing to remember is to not dwell on the downs, but to learn and grow from them and enjoy the ride of the ups as much as possible. I’ve been through a streak of bad luck lately, but I’m not going to let it define me or distract me from what I really want out of life. Everything I’ve been through in my life, good and bad, has given me perspective and either lessons learned or fond memories.



Some of the best advice I got from one of my college professors was that nothing bad can ever happen to a writer, it is all just material. That is the way I choose to look at my mistakes and my hard times. There are so many unknowns about being in our twenties, but that doesn’t mean we have to get down on ourselves because of it. We need to realize our potential and always be working towards our goals because one day we will reach them and be so grateful that we didn’t give up on ourselves. So breathe, take life as it comes, and remember to enjoy the little things.

Embrace The New

I’ve been thinking a lot about how new opportunities walk into our lives and how we react to them. For me, as someone who just stepped into the “real” world, there are so many new things to be discovered. This can be a nerve-racking experience, but it can also be very exciting. There is still so much I have to experience in this life, I’m just getting started. And that’s the thing, I don’t know what to expect because I’ve never been here before, but it’s how I deal with these new changes and opportunities that matter. I want to embrace them with an open mind and an open heart because there’s a chance that one of them could change my life.

Along with new job opportunities presenting themselves, I’ve also met a lot of new people recently. This has been refreshing and also eye opening to the people that walk in and out of our lives at different times. A while back, people told me that the friends you have early on in life will most likely not last. Now, in high school I had a very close-knit group of friends who I thought was always going to be a part of my life, but after graduating college, I realized I don’t talk to most of them anymore. We want to believe that the people we cherish will be with us long term, but the truth is people move on, they grow apart, and their lives can just be on completely different paths. Coming to terms with this realization was hard, it’s never fun losing friends, but I guess at the end of the day, it’s not so much about losing friends as it is finding out who your true friends really are, whether they be old or new.

Having new people in your life is much like starting anything new. You don’t really know what you’re getting into until you’ve been in it for a while. You have all these thoughts on what it could be, what it might be, but you don’t actually know until you really start to get to know them. However, just because we don’t know how something is going to turn out, doesn’t mean we shouldn't give it a chance. We should be excited about the prospects life has brought to us and just go with it because like I said, one opportunity that walks into your life could change it forever. If a door is open to you, why not walk through it, because you never know what’s on the other side until you do.

5 Ways To Channel Your Inner Tiger

 

Because if you’re not living life like a tiger, what’s the point? 

 

I’ve had tigers on the brain for a few days now, since I’ve started to write a short story about an imaginary one, and also because I like to think they are my true spirit animal. Unlike my imaginary tiger, these majestic creatures are not to be trifled with. I started thinking about all the reasons I love tigers and I realized it’s because they are everything I aspire to be; strong, fierce, and fearless. Here’s how we could all channel our inner tiger.

1. Be Fierce 

Tigers above all are fierce creatures, always protecting their own and never backing down. They are at the top of their food chain and every other animal knows and respects this. Just by looking at a tiger, you know it’s powerful and dangerous, which only adds to its beauty. This is the number one reason I feel such a kindredness with tigers and I always strive to be fierce, a force to be reckoned with. Never tone down your fierceness for anyone and never let your confidence waver, a tiger certainly never would.

2. Be Independent 

Tigers are naturally solitary creatures. It is very rare to see tigers traveling in packs because they can fend for themselves. As an only child, I am in love with my alone time and wouldn’t give it up for anything. As important as my friends and family are in my life, I have always relied on me to get myself through everything. Being independent is one of the most important traits to have in such a harsh world as ours. You have to know that the only one you can truly depend on is yourself. Tigers are sure of themselves which is why they do so well alone. If you have you, you don’t have to worry.

3. Be Fearless 

There’s not much that frightens a tiger, as they are the ones to be feared. Tigers go into just about any situation fearlessly because they know when it comes down to it, they will prevail simply because they’re that awesome. This is the way I always want to be. Obviously as humans, we have a lot to be afraid of in life, but one of my biggest mottos is if it scares you, it is probably worth doing. Step into the unknown with the heart of a tiger and you can face anything.

4. Be A Fighter

Because tigers are at the top of their food chain, they will fight and eat just about any other animal out there. They are born fighters with their strength and agility, and they don’t often lose their battles. In life, we have to fight for everything we want, wether it be professionally, socially, or personally. Everyone has something worth fighting for and if we channel our inner tiger, we can win over the obstacles that stand in our way. When things get hard, don’t back down because you can’t win if you don’t fight.

5. Be Strong 

Strength is a tiger’s most important quality, it’s basically the reason they are the hunters and not the hunted. Fun fact: although they prefer to use their sharp teeth to rip apart their prey, a tiger can crush the skull of a bear with the swipe of one paw. I’m not saying we should go around crushing skulls, but if we had a tiger’s strength inside of us, imagine how powerful we could be. Life is often unkind and brutal, but being strong enough to handle it is what’s important. Even if you don’t feel strong, the will to push on through the pain is that strength. In the darkest times in my life, strength is the main reason why I channel my inner tiger as much as I can. It reminds me that I’m stronger than I know and capable of handling anything the world throws my way. So take it from me, life is better when you find your inner tiger and stay fierce!

A Growing Journey

One thing that can happen when transitioning into full on adulthood is really learning who you are as a person. When you were a teenager, maybe you were beginning to see who you were. In college, you got to see yourself as an independent person while you had no curfew, partied whenever you wanted, skipped a few classes, became a feminist and a democrat, and maybe experimented with all sorts of things from drugs, to sex, to deciding if you wanted to go Greek.  And when all the chaos of being on your own starts to settle in, that is when who you were always meant to be starts to develop. As time goes by, you grow out of those experiments and learn to narrow down what exactly it is you want from life and what you are going to do in order to make it happen.

    I could keep going with the list of what happens mentally as we progress in our lives, but I can’t go much further into the future because this is about where I’m at. I’ve learned so much about myself through the process of growing up in all stages and I know I have much more to do. The prospect of growing even deeper into who I am supposed to be absolutely thrills me. However, there are always fears that I won’t live up to who I want my future self to be. Then again, this is a price we pay for growing up. There is no fast forward or rewind, as we all wish there were. But wouldn’t it be a fantastic discovery if we learned how to replay our greatest hits in life whenever we wanted? Since this hasn’t been discovered yet, we as mere mortals must always live in the present, never able to return to the past and never really certain of what the future might hold for us.

    The truth is, I’m not where I want to be in life yet, but wanting everything to be here now is just a side-effect of being young. I want to be able to skip ahead to all the good stuff, but I know I need to remember to enjoy all the little things and the good things I have now. For instance, I’d say getting my first car this week was a step in the right direction. I am so in love with it and it is just one step closer to the rest of my life. Although there are bigger goals in my mind’s eye, those are for another day and today has its own agenda. There is still so much of myself I have yet to discover, and as I continue the process of being an adult, I have to remember that the journey makes the destination, not the other way around.

We Got This...Right?

So you’ve graduated college. Now you should be prepared to be in the “real world” and know everything there is to know about being an adult, right? I don’t know about other recently graduated individuals, but I know that when it comes to knowing how to adult, I’m far from having it down. All I’ve ever known is how to be a student, to learn, to observe, and honestly how to just screw around. One day maybe I’ll know exactly how to do my taxes, how the stock market works, and what jobs give me the best security. Right now, I’ll settle for someone who hires me despite the fact that I don’t have two plus years of experience because I’ve spent nearly my entire life in school.

    As a recent college grad, sometimes it’s hard to navigate where I’m supposed to be in life. I haven’t landed a job yet, and although it hasn’t been that long since I’ve been out of school, I still don’t feel as accomplished as I would like. Job aside, there are so many things that come with growing up, and it can be difficult to know exactly what those things are until we are faced with them in our own lives. This blog will be my journey through adulthood and where ever that might lead me.

    In the past year, I have learned a lot about myself and a lot about growing up as I studied abroad in Italy and traveled around Europe. Life changing events like this can make you stop and think about who you really are and what you actually want out of life. As for me, I want nothing less than to seek out adventure in all that I do, to chose the life that I love and never let anything get in my way, and to cherish what I have and not dwell on what I don’t. Saying this is all well and good, but sometimes, it can be difficult to not let our emotions cloud our judgement. For instance, as much as I embrace being a strong and independent woman, I can admit that this path can be lonely at times. As great as I am at being alone, I don’t want to be doing it forever, and that desire has only grown with age.

    Being a woman in today’s society, there are so many things thrown at us through social media, television, and other individuals in our lives that can mold or skew our perspectives of what we want or what we should be. Shows like Say Yes To The Dress, the myriad of wedding posts on Pinterest, and people you know getting engaged every other day on Facebook causes us women, especially those of us without a significant other, to not only long for those fairytale wedding moments, but at the same time makes us feel inadequate about what we don’t have in our own lives. Let’s be honest, we all want to be loved and we all want to be able to have our special moments, but the truth is, it doesn’t happen all the time, especially with half of marriages ending in divorce these days. It can be difficult to be a young and independent woman in this day and age, no matter how much #Girlboss support there is out there now.

    Dealing with things like this is just a part of being an adult and trying to do it right. Honestly, there is probably no right way to adult, but then again, how would I know? I’m only getting started.