All Of These Things Are True

It's hard for me to believe that yet another year has gone by. My mom was right when she said that one day when I was older, a year wouldn't seem like an eternity anymore. Well, I'm definitely older now and I'm beginning to see her point. As is typical for me around this time, I've been thinking a lot about all the changes I've been through in my lifetime -- not just recently, but over the years, and there certainly have been a lot of them. I've also been thinking about some of the lessons I've learned over that period of time. The following are just a few that I've found to be applicable to at least my life.

• Nothing is permanent or guaranteed... and I do mean nothing. I don't think it's healthy to be so attached to any person or situation that you don't know what you'd do or who you'd be without it. If life ever decides to pull the rug out from under you, it will be a horrific experience for you. If you're lucky, you'll never have to learn this lesson the hard way like I did, but if you do manage to embrace it somehow? You're free. You can literally be anyone or do anything. It's like the whole world just opens up.



• Lots of change and cycling in one's life is not necessarily a bad thing. In regards to some of us -- like me -- it's necessary in order to fully become who we are meant to be. I used to worry that my trying on so many faces, so many identities, and so many hats meant I was no one and that I'd never figure out who I was truly meant to be. I now know that the answer is that I was meant to be all of those girls -- just at different times in my life.



• That it was necessary for me to be somewhat immersed in the superficial and material at one point in my life in order to be able to reject it and embrace something deeper at another. I've stopped seeing my days during which beauty, and greed, and charm were my whole life and my living as wasted time spent following the wrong path. I wouldn't be the same person I am now if I hadn't had those experiences and gained the depth I have now as a result.



• That in a few more years I won't be the same person I am now and that's OK. I'm not meant to be the same for a lifetime -- none of us are. I'm enjoying being who I am at this moment, but I'm also learning to view becoming a different version of myself in the future as an exciting adventure to look forward to as opposed to something horrific that I should dread.



• That the most important attribute I ever developed was an open mind. Some of the things I've been through in my lifetime would have broken me if hadn't. Although I won't go so far as to say I don't ever worry about any tragedy or loss that might be waiting for me in my future, I do feel better knowing for certain that whatever happens, I'll be able to get through it just fine.



• That it's not actually that difficult to get on the road to achieving the things you've always wanted to. It's just hard to actually make the decision that you're going to get out there and do it. Once I just got off my ass and decided to take certain things off my bucket list and start making them happen now, it was just a matter of working hard enough. There was no golden ticket I needed to have the way I always thought -- no magic wand. The only thing that had been stopping me before was me and all my illusions in regards to how the world works and what it takes to get along in it.

This list will continue to grow as the years pass, because the "learning" part of life is really never over with. Who'd want it to be? It's rather exciting and I'm riding the wave rather well, even if I do say so myself.