#4

Last year I made a huge change, in fact this change involved me leaving everything and everyone I knew and moving completely across the states to I had no clue what. I moved out on my own with nothing but my clothes and a wish to start over.
I moved into an apartment and slowly but surely with a lot of hard work and a lot of patience I turned that empty apartment into what will soon be home. Those first few months were tough to say the least I knew no one, I had nothing, and to be very frank I was scared shitless that I would fail.
I felt so lost, so alone, so foolish, but I couldn't give up I couldn't go back my bridges were burned and whatever road I was on I was on for the long haul. To anyone that has done this you will understand that there is nothing easy about starting over especially when you are completely on your own with no one to fall back on but yourself.
Doing this has taught me so much about myself, it has shown me just how strong I am and even when I felt I wasn't strong enough I had to be because I had no other choice. Sometimes I look around me and I feel overwhelmed, overwhelmed with feelings of homesickness and a wish to call uncle and just run back to the known the comfortable to home.
I can't say what keeps me going, maybe its the need to accomplish to say I did it, maybe its because I really have no other choice but to keep going. Whatever it is there is nothing like the feeling of looking around you and seeing everything you have accomplished at how far you have come and knowing you did it on your own.
We have two choices when we face challenges in our life we can let it knock us down and we can stay down and give up, or we can fight our way back up and summon everything in us to keep going. Either choice leaves us battered bruised and exhausted, but one leaves us feeling lost and alone and the other lets us move on past the hardship we endure.
So I guess my words of wisdom with this ( if I have any LOL ) is life is full of ups and downs, full of hardship and challenge. But somewhere in all of us is the strength to overcome and endure, somewhere in all of us is the ability to stand on our own and take the journey one step at a time. To those out there that are experiencing and going through what I am I tell you if I can do it so can you. Hold in there, reach deep down inside and find the strength I know is there to keep going, to keep progressing to stand again when everything has knocked you down and to keep moving forward.

#3

I don't mean to make this all about love and loss, there are so many other factors in life that really its sad to make that our only focus. I feel that love and relationships are only a part of one big huge mess we call life. There are so many other facets so many other things that take up more of our time that to focus only on this seems silly and mundane, and truthfully very short sighted.

Here's a little nugget about me I am a teacher, a preschool teacher to be exact. I have been teaching for what seems forever now but in reality is about four years. I have loved every second of those four years, teaching is something that is born in me like something that just happens like breathing, sleeping, and eating. There never has been and I'm sure never will be anything I love more than teaching. To me its exhilarating to watch a child who at the beginning of the year didn't know his alphabet, didn't know his numbers, couldn't write on his own, discover and learn these things in such a short amount of time.

At such a young age children grasp such major concepts and skills, to think about the things children have to learn its amazing to think how their brains can function at such a high level for one as young as they are.

Now having said all that there are days when it takes everything in me to get through the day. Just like any job sometimes my brain and body just want to tell me " No, don't get up, just roll over and sleep its not worth the effort". Kids are a challenge they take full concentration and there is no down time, no time when you can just sit back and space out for a minute. They take every minute of your time every cell of your concentration.

But I love it and I wouldn't trade it for a thing, this is probably the biggest facet of my life and one I spend the most time on so why shouldn't I love it!