Recognize All the Good in Your Life {Guest Post}

Hey to all of Jackie’s friends!  Now that you know me, you prolly wanna be my BFF, too!  No?  Maybe I can convince you…

1.  I am a TMI blogger.  It’s true.  I share way too much information all the time.  If it wasn’t for my mom and mother-in-law (who’s an Episcopalian priest) reading my blog, I’d share even more info than ya’ll would ever wanna know.

2.  I married this guy who I only knew for 8 months!  Yup.  True fact.  We met in March, were engaged in September, and were married in December.  And I love him so.  And… wait for it… we weren’t even pregnant.  He didn’t even have to marry me!  *I might have told him I was.  Kidding!

3.  I blog about random things.  Sometimes, I feel like my blog needs a direction, but then I get distracted and blog about fro-yo or decorating or life philosophy.  See?  Random.

One of the last things I wanna mention is that I’m 30.  Someone wrote on this blog about the 30s not being the new 20s.  They’re not.  When you’re in your thirties, you’ll know it.  Running 4 miles at 20?  No biggie.  Running 4 miles at 30?  I pat myself on the back every time.  

I’m telling ya.

Jackie wrote about averting a quarter life crisis, so when she asked me to guest post, I knew that I would blog about how even 10 years later, you might still have those feelings and that’s okay.  Here’s why:

1.  Feeling like you’re not satisfied is a great thing. It’s what keeps society moving forward.  The important thing is to recognize all the great things in your life as they are and still want more.  The strive for success is what will make you succeed.  Trust.

2.  What’s perfect for you at any age may not be perfect for someone else. I hit it hard in my twenties.  I worked hard, played hard, lived hard.  I bought a condo at 27, finished my degree in three years, and was in a relationship that may have headed toward marriage.  And then I realized something.  It wasn’t the right relationship for me.  I knew I didn’t need to meet someone else’s timeline of all things awesome for my life to be right; my life just had to be right for me.  So, I broke up with the guy, stayed single for a million years, and just lived.  Now, people think I should already have a kid and a house with a backyard.  That’s not my dream right now.  I feel satisfied with my own life and happy with it.  (See number 1 above.  I still strive for MY next big thing.  No one else’s, just mine.)  (and let me tell ya.  When the right guy came along, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I was glad I waited for my perfect timing.)

3.  Everyone around you will always look more accomplished, happier, better off than you. A lot of people live their lives like a facebook page- only putting the best stuff out there.  And why shouldn’t they?  No one would know what’s going on behind the scenes.  Sometimes, I think about my life as an observer, as someone watching a movie of my life.  If someone was to only see the accoutrements of your life, what would they see?  They’d see your awesome friends, your great wardrobe, your amazing law degree, your happy relationship, your fab purse.  They would not see the effort you put in to keeping those relationships, the tear-filled long distance nights, the debt you may have.  In the same way they wouldn’t see your nitty gritty details, you don’t see theirs.  So never compare your life to anyone else’s- if for no other reason than the fact that you don’t know all the facts of what it is to be them.

4.  I don’t think anyone ever feels super grown up. Let me tell ya.  This thing called Impostor Syndrome is real.  Sometimes, I feel like the mortgage company is gonna wonder, “Why did we let this little girl buy a house?”  I mean, I have never been late on mortgage- I usually pay $50 or more extra each month, but I still feel that way.  I was SHOCKED when I was approved for a car recently.  I thought, “Wow.  I fooled them.”  I still wonder if the bottom will ever fall out on my life.  No idea why.  I work hard, I live right, and I make good choices.  I still think to myself, “Am I really a grown up?”  I go to work, pay all my bills all the time, buy groceries, have yearly check-ups, and take care of a cat all by myself and I still wonder, “When will I be a grown up?”  I think this all goes back to number 1- the strive for more.  Still, ya gotta give yourself credit for all the good in your life.