#9 Write

Some people swear by journals and I mean, I guess I am sort of one of those people. I've kept one my whole life, but I wouldn't say that it's been a healthy habit for me. It usually just became me ranting about something I was super upset about or dreaming about something- or someone - that would turn my whole life around. Needless to say that I was more exhausted than invigorated by my journals. (Now I've started a new type called a bullet journal, but that's a whole different post).

Finally, I realized that those day dreams that I'd been having over and over? They would make for an interesting story. So in 2010 I began with two characters: Kaelin Rever and William Kerrev. An over the last 7 years it has expanded from one chapter to three books. I'm really not quite sure how this happened, or when I became so invested in these characters, but as I go back and read through them, I can clearly see my emotions - my depairs and my triumphs - staring back at me through the pages. Few people in my life even know that this story exists or that I have, in fact, written books. 

But this is for a reason. 

These books were never meant to be read by anyone but me. The story line didn't have to be logical or reasonable because it was only ever for my eyes. It is my journal of sorts. It doesn't necessarily track the events of my life, but rather the greatest temptations and desires of my heart. For me, that's more of a journal than I'll ever need.

And whether I'm traveling cross-country in my car or sitting in a particularly boring meeting, these characters are always there to greet me with perfect familiarity. 

So write. 

It doesn't have to be gramatically perfect or beautifully well-written because it will never be published.

So write.

You will find new friends and adventures that you have been yearning for.

So write.

#8 Go Somewhere New

There's a little thing that I like to call "travelsick." It's the feeling of being in one place too long, becoming so restless that you physically need to get out, leave, and go somewhere. Except for 90% of the time, you can't leave. You have work and obligations, it just isn't possible to run away. 

So at least once a year, find somewhere to go. Whether it's across the country or a town an hour away that you've never been to, go for it. I won't lie, sometimes it's weird because you're alone in this new place without a clue where to eat lunch or go for sight-seeing and usually drivers are crazy and unforgiving for the sudden lane changes because siri forgot to tell you that you would need to be in the right side of the left turn lane to make the change... It's crazy. But it's new and it isn't your everyday monotonous life that's driving you crazy. 

Partly, it's to prove to yourself that you can do it. To prove that you are more than your city, your job, your relationship. To prove that you are capable to doing something spontaneous and exciting.

Last Fall, student teaching was overwhelming me entirely and I had huge certification tests coming up for my teaching lisence... It was not a happy time, so I hopped in my car during Fall Break and drove two hours down to Tucson. I thought I had it all planned out, I could go to Kartchner Caverns, see some local artwork, do some thrift shopping, grab lunch at a cute little cafe on some street corner... Sounds like a perfect day right? Well, it turns out that it costs like $30 dollars to enter the Caverns, an ain't nobody go money for that, so that was a no go. The local artwork? A couple statues of Christ's life (the Last Supper, a Nativity scene, things like that). They were beautiful in their prime, I'm sure, but the city has not maintained them, consequently they were chipped all over the place with the occasional graffiti. Downtown Tucson turned out to be a VERY small area and if you took one step too far, then you ended up in an extremely ghetto neighborhood, where you felt required to look over your shoulder every 15 seconds (making thrift shopping not so fun). For some reason 1/2 of the downtown cafes were closed on Saturday and the ones that weren't closed at 4, so I was left in the dark for dinner. All in all, not a great trip. 

BUT I CAN SAY THAT I WENT.

And I took pictures, documented the trip, wrote in my journal.

Most importantly, I didn't think about my tests at all. And when I thought about student teaching, I was removed from the situation and therefore less keyed up about all the craziness. 

They can also be successful, though. 

A couple weeks ago, I took a road trip from Arizona aaaaaaaall the way to Minnesota for a convention. From a cute duck pond in Albuquerque, to the the adorable town of Tucumcari, and my brother's adorable family in Kansas, it was a great experience! I took plenty of audio books, put some movies on my phone to listen to, and voila, the perfect road trip. On my way back? Randomly decided to swing by my sister's family in Colorado, because why not?

Part of the joy was not having a set timeline. If I wanted to stay an extra day in Kansas, I could. If I wanted to head out a day early, no sweat. And it wasn't super expensive, either. Airbnb saved me $30 a night on housing, bringing a couple sandwiches with me and lots of breakfast options with me, I saved about $50 on food,  and a wonderful app called GasBuddy saved me $90 on food.

So do it. Go somewhere.

Make it the start of a new exciting life.