the other night as i laid in bed looking back on old photos i thought to myself,
“is this really my life?”
“have i actually done and accomplished all of this?”

creating a website. swimming in waterfalls. dancing the night away with friends. late night donut runs that were a lil bit sketchy, but more enjoyable than not. concerts. pumpkin patches. skipping class to hike mount rainer. laughing with friends until our bellies hurt and tears filled our eyes. attending and graduating college. traveling; near and far and europe! for a month! biking in berlin. gondala ride in venice. touring around on a vespa while it was raining in rome. dancing under the eiffel tower in paris. watching the sunset from the cutest rooftop in genova. swimming in the mediterranean sea in france during sunset. eating the best dinner in switzerland. ohhh and we can’t forget attending the most magical festivals ever (RISE). reuniting, traveling, and growing with the love of my life. and you know what? these things i listed, these are a small amount of the things i have done.

how cool is that?

and that is only partial of what i have done within the last few years. imagine the list of things within the past 23 (almost 24) years! or better yet imagine what else is to come in the next 20 some years!

my life feels like a movie and you know what yours is too! maybe not with the same plot, but that is the beauty with movies is they are not all the same.

i think it’s easy to get caught up in what other people are doing. it’s easy to say that they have it better than us. that we wish our lives could be more like theirs and especially when we are going about our day to day life, going about our 9-5 job, waiting until the day we can travel again (and especially with covid still a factor to worry about). what we forget to remember is that what we see and understand of people is that we only see a small portion of people whether that is their social media or in real life.

when you really sit with it and think about your life up until the point you realize that the good times exceed the times of struggle, pain, fear, and hopelessness by far. you also see that those difficult times help you appreciate the good times. i think with covid this has been something i have really had to grapple with. covid got in the way of a lot of plans, and it made me feel as if it was a year wasted. i wasn’t able to do what i wanted, but it was what i needed (not covid per say, but learning to find a greater sense of peace and appreciation for the life i am living and have already lived). i did not know it, but god knew it. the more i think about it though even with all the craziness this year has brought it still has been the best year. i choose to see the good it has brought instead of seeing all that it is not.

you have to start romantizing your life.

you have to start falling in love with yourself and the things that seem so routine and mundane. you have to fall in love with your life because you only get one and whatever may happen you deserve to feel happy and loved and valued. you were placed here for a purpose and with an intention. seriously i can not preach enough about this. y’all we have such a wonderful and glorious and gracious god. so maybe i’m not out adventuring like i want to right now or even within this year but my life has been like a movie and looking back on each of my experiences warms my heart.

you are the main character. this is your movie.