Welcome back friends.
I've received questions more than a couple times during this holiday season if I would be writing a new blog anytime soon. Honestly, I hadn't realized so many keep in contact through this (especially since my last update was nearly two years ago). But, as I find myself wanting to write more, and now have a computer which makes it easier to do so, I suppose here I am again to update you on my musings and ramblings. I cannot say if this will bring you closer or push you further away; we'll find out together.
Here we are now, in 2016. Last night was the first New Year's Eve in over a decade where I was not in the company of friends, and I was decidedly depressed about it--what a fitting end to a year where I found more than one friend slip by the wayside.
For those of you who did read this blog in the past, perhaps you'll remember my posts about my friends being all around the world, and struggling with the idea of staying in the same place while everyone else seems to move on. Please don't misunderstand, Orlando was, and is the right place to be when starting a career in hospitality. It was the right place for me at such a formative part of my career--but seeing everyone else in their right place--which was so far away from mine--made me question most of my decisions. Facebook is truly a modern form of torture.
This year was a new experience--one of losing friends not through physical distance, rather through growing apart. Different paths in careers or education, different interests, new relationships--at one point it felt like a constant downward spiral with only my career keeping me afloat.
Family is really the one thing you can always count on. In every way, spending New Year's Eve with my family instead of my friends was highly significant of my year.
That's the baggage. That was 2015. But the beautiful thing about a New Year is a fresh start. With 365 days left (because we get an extra day this year) there is so much potential for change. Each January 1st we're presented with the amazing gift of time, a whole year in front of us.
In addition to some trips and visits I have lined up for the first half of the year, I have a small bucket list:
1. Read every book I got for Christmas by May (there were quite a few, including a very lengthy biography on Alexander Hamilton)
2. Run my first 10K (ok, this was technically already planned, but as it looms closer, I feel like it needs to be on a list for me to actually believe it's going to happen... seriously, may the force be with me)
3. Embrace and conquer my fear of natural water - that means springs, kayaks, paddle boards and canoes - the gators know I cheer for them, don't they?
4. Call a friend at least once a week - texting, Facebook, email don't begin to compare to hearing someone's voice. Plus, you never know when a call can come at exactly the perfect time.
5. Speed-date. From the stories a friend tells me, it sounds like great hospitality practice anyways-- or, if nothing else, material for future blog posts.
6. Discover my true autonomous self. I've discovered a love for movies and theme parks on my own, but I still can't work up the courage to eat or drink on my own in public. I can travel on my own, so long as the destination has someone waiting. People who need people may be the luckiest people in the world, but I want to work more on not depending on others.
Of course there's weight loss. Of course there's working out more, eating better, being healthy. You can expect a few blogs on that, because that's the trend, and trying to do a 10K can't be done without the above. But I am so much more of a writer that I don't want to be another girl writing about losing weight. Just like I am more than my appearance, my writing and my life is about more than weight loss.
So welcome back, to those of you still reading. And welcome to those who are new--some of whom haven't gotten the chance to know me through my writing. Fair warning, I'm wordy. I ramble. Sometimes I write nonsensically. But if you stick around, you might learn a bit more about me, and you might get a good story here and there.
And comment. This isn't a plea to go viral. This isn't me wanting to get numbers up. This is me wanting to keep the conversation going, to know who's listening and to listen back when given the chance.
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