My 23rd birthday is less than a week away and so I’m taking this time to reflect on the past year and what I’ve learned from it all. Luckily enough, my birthday is so close to the end of the year that this is pretty much what I have learned in the year 2017.
Let me start off by saying 2017 and age 22 was a pivotal one. I finished up my senior year of college, originated a role in a new musical, developed my own one-woman show and performed it as a senior capstone project, wrote and performed my own work in a cabaret, celebrated a 2 year anniversary with my partner, graduated from college, spent the summer hustling and doing freelance gigs; earning more money than I ever have in such a short amount of time, got a job at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and moved cross-country just 2 months after graduation to start my next step as an official post grad life #adult.
My life has changed in so many ways this year and in the months leading up to graduation, I was so emotional and absolutely devastated and heartbroken that the life I had cultivated in Orange County would be taken away from me, completely terrified about what would come next. Now, I’ve successfully moved into my next stage in life and I’m happy to report that there is so much more learning and joy and love to be found on the other side. Here are just a few of the lessons.
- Stand in your royal power.
- Chapters close and another one begins.
- The importance of saying no.
- Going to the beach is always the best idea.
- Trust in the process and the journey.
- Don’t be afraid of the unknown, trust everything will work out
- It’s okay to not make the big decisions and instead just see how everything will play out, because when it comes time to make that decision, it will be easy instead of hard
- Don’t force anything; live in the flow
- If you get out there and hustle aka DO THE WORK, opportunities will flow freely
- It’s okay to be scared and it’s okay to be sad, but remembering to trust the unknown will free you from these feelings
- The power of manifestation is real, y’all.
- Remember that it is okay to ask for help. People love to help but they won’t know you need it until you make the ask.
- You will be most inspired by your friends and their work
- You don’t need to “try” to get into anybody else’s tribe, your tribe is already the people that surround you. In other words, you already attract the people you need to meet.
- Podcasts are the best way to keep learning and hearing valuable advice from people who are already doing the thing (Shoutout to The Soul on Fire Podcast and The Compass for inspiring me with spirituality and life as an artist)
- The world is your oyster and YOU are the pearl; don’t be afraid of changing your life/career path because this is the time where you get to explore many different roads. You are not just one thing and you are not just the thing you’ve been studying in college.
- Self-care and taking time for yourself is of utmost importance
- Passion is the best catalyst for motivation, and when that doesn’t work an ACTION will create inspiration which will create motivation
- YOU get to define who YOU are. Nobody else gets to tell you where you fit; you already know that answer and that comes from the deep authentic YOU, once you can fit into alignment with this and cut away all the other bullshit, you are deeply aligned into your “type”. Simply identifying what you truly enjoy; what you love to listen to, read about, what kind of theater you’re passionate about – these lead you to the answer of who YOU are.
- Long Distance Relationships are teaching me how to live fully in the present and not look ahead to the future and what it may hold.
- Finding the right balance of feeling like you’re doing enough while being able to let go and live in the flow is a fine line and something I’m still learning to navigate
- Old relationships die out, but it’s okay because new ones form. The universe always gives you what you need at that timeI could go into long explanations about how I came to learn these 22 discoveries and lessons that I gained in my 22nd year on Earth, but that would take a very long time, perhaps you’ll see some of these in later blog posts. I’m grateful that I am continuing to grow and soak in the magic that is life. Many blessings and here is to year 23!
Mermaid Musings 