Remember to turn on the light

I know y'all are thinking - WOW two posts in two days? Or maybe not, but I'm liking having some time to think and write, so I'm happy to share it with you! Yesterday's post was about keeping it real - having that tough conversation with yourself in a negative time to turn that situation around for the better. Today's thoughts are about how to get to that positive and run with it.

One thing that has been a constant for me is that I'm a very independent person who sometimes (often) gets lost in my day to day tasks and forgets to connect with my friends and family. Social media sites give me a quick way to check in and I can text and such asking how things are going, but I mean really CONNECT. Connecting to me is talking with the person about what they and I are passionate about. They might not be the same, but doing so brings you to such a great place. I have a couple of examples of how I chose to start this Monday out - by connecting.

Since I have some extra time, I've been more thoughtful in my day job tasks and initiatives. I was contemplating the best way to do launch a new piece of collateral that we created (it is SUPER cool, so stay tuned for how we launch it) in a timely manner. One thing about my organization and the industry that we are in is that everything is very fast paced - it's necessary for the operations sides of things. While it is important to execute in a timely fashion, I didn't want to sacrifice this great piece of collateral - I didn't want it to get lost in the shuffle of Monday posts. So Sunday, I was thinking about the best way to do this and had a few ideas, but wasn't sure what would be the best way. So what do I do? I call my friend Jill to talk through them. I've worked with her for a long time and see her as being a great thinker and doer - she sees things others don't AND I also wanted to catch up with her on a personal level. That conversation not only helped with one task, but might have offered a great opportunity for her AND me, simply from a phone call. I drove into work feeling great, confident and like I had a good purpose for today.

Halfway through my morning, I texted my friend, Jenna from high school just to chat. She popped into my head and I thought I'd say hello. I ended up talking with her for just under two hours while I was doing my day to day tasks about anything and everything that was going on with our lives, how past events lead to them, our feelings about current events, travel, etc. I haven't spoken with her in person for a while now and she gave me even more of a purpose for my day than I had talking with Jill. I also remembered that I DO have a great friend sitting in a different state that I can lean on when I need it and I think Jenna realized that I can be that person for her too. Even though we are far apart, we still can be supportive through happy and difficult times and events.

I named this post after one of my FAVORITE Harry Potter quotes by Albus Dumbledore (even though Severus Snape is the best character of all time). Remembering to turn on the light is huge. I'm not even in a "darkest of time" scenario, but I was forgetting to turn on the light. I was struggling to find purpose and direction, but didn't remember that I can turn on the smallest of lights that can help me find my way. For me, the way to turn on that light is to connect. To actually sit down and give time to the people who care about me and who I care about - with no other purpose than to say hello and see what's up. When you're stuck in a situation, find the switch, and turn on the light.

A Good Place

I have been off the radar for the past couple of weeks for a few reasons but am ready to get back on the horse of this awesome blog! I have made it a goal to travel outside of the United States at least once a year, so this year I went to Ireland and Scotland with a two of my very close friends. I definitely recommend going there, as there was more to do than I could have possibly ever imagined! I was thinking about how wonderful it was to have the opportunity to travel, how my work situation is working out and how nice the weather was yesterday on my drive home, and this next blog topic hit me. 

We often focus on what is going wrong in our lives, whether it is a job related thing, car trouble, relationship imperfections, etc. We do not often stop and just relish being in a good place in our lives; happy, content and blessed. I was thinking yesterday that it was just a really nice and good day. The weather was beautiful, I got to do cool things at work, I got to get nice new shoes and come home to a warm apartment with great company. I feel as if we work so hard to get to places like these, that we often let nice times like the one I had yesterday fall by the wayside. 

My parents often said that I had to work hard in school to get good grades and get a degree that would be not only interesting to me, but relevant in the grand scheme of things so that I could get a job that I liked, but also was needed and functional to someone else. I never really understood what I was working towards, just that I needed to do that in order to be a functioning member of society that can support myself and a family as an adult. While that is part of it, there is also the part that is hard to describe (but I’m going to try anyway). 

It isn’t so much that I have stopped working for the next step in life, because we never can be stagnant and be successful. It’s just that I have a lot more freedom to make many decisions about my path because of the work that I put in previous to now. Now that I have a good set of degrees, experience and job, I can make more strategic decisions to do things that I like AND that will be necessary for the future. And that those decisions don’t have to be made very quickly, because I’ve made it to a point of happiness as well as independence. There are certain goals that I have that the path to achieving them is rather ambiguous, but I can take my time and plan how I can get there, but still relish in the fact that I’ve made it to this point. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but I hope it does! 

The point of this entry is to say that yes you should work hard for the next steps in life, but also to live in the moment that you have created for yourself now. If that moment isn’t where you’d like to be, buckle down, do the work and get to that next great place. The past few years for me were not all roses and daisies, but I got the work done and am now in a good place. A good place to make the decisions to go where I’d like in the future. I challenge y’all to really think about where you are in life, enjoy where you are now, and make the decisions necessary to be even happier in the future.