Still sorting through that last Madrid post… Anyway! When will there ever be a better time than now to write about a new year outlook?
Next year is too far away, smarty pants.
I officially started both of my new jobs this past week. I’m not allowed to say much about one, but what I can say is that it’s my first retail gig. None of the office jobs I applied to over the last few weeks got back to me for an interview. Honestly though, this job is exactly what I was hoping to get while I’m temporarily here in Houston. Oh yeah… surprise! I don’t plan on being in the city by year end. Temporary work for a temporary home that pays just well enough to cover my current expenses is plenty fine for now. The other job, because I did say jobs, doesn’t pay anything, but I think it’s going to teach me the most and bring me the most joy.
I am volunteering one day a week to lead an art class with toddlers. I actually pictured wanting to try this exact kind of work when I had all that time abroad to think about myself and desires. I mean, I pictured teaching older children and getting paid for it, but I will not dismiss the synchronicities that led me to find this opportunity that is essentially what I thought about as a potential career shift. Besides, the more exposure I get to different jobs, the easier I will find what truly fits me. (Something I highly recommend doing in your 20’s, but later is, of course, better than never.)
The outlook of 2020 feels good, but I’m not positioned in a constant high of empowerment. Since I let go of my apartment last summer, I am staying in my old, childhood home with my folks and baby sis, which is a bit weird. If you’ve ever had to move back in with your folks, then you probably understand what I’m feeling. Besides the strangeness of living with my family as a 34-year-old woman (just had a birthday…), it’s weird living away from the neighborhoods and things I was surrounded by for the last 8 years. I can still get to those places and things, which is great, but it’s not even close to being the same.
A friend of mine asked me if it felt like a step backwards being there, but I completely disagree with that. Honestly, it feels like these life altering decisions I made have brought me back to a kind of ground zero where I probably need to learn some shit and/or release some shit and/or help someone else with some shit before moving to the next platform.
Nothing speaks more to that thought than when I came back to the states last month. I spent my first night in Boston to break up the flight time and save a little money on airfare and awoke the next morning to a blanket of snow covering the metropolitan area. It was like, a beautiful, sparkling clean slate welcomed me back home (and I totally frolicked in it).
An old colleague of mine used to say, “this is just a stepping stone,” whenever I became distraught about something I couldn’t change at the office. From where I’m standing, this is a stepping stone on a path leading me somewhere else.
Every day is a chance for change and possibility, but sometimes we need a little encouragement. To kick off the new year, I decided to share a list of articles I found inspirational and supportive since my unravelling in 2018. I hope you, too, find a spark of light from the following:
Accepting Loneliness
Desire to be Elsewhere
When You Feel Disconnected
(my favorites below)
7 Truths of Personal Growth
7 Questions to Finding Purpose
Happy New Year, everyone!