Hello, Again

It’s been a while since I posted.  Too long.  All of fall has nearly gone by  and there were no new posts on the must-have boots or clever recipes for apples.  (Hopefully you found the perfect boots to wear apple picking in the interim.)  Over the past few months, my favorite past time, this blog, went on an unintended sabbatical.  These things happen, so, no need to twist into a knot over it.  The blog is coming back – I won’t promise there will be a sparkly new post every day – but there will be new posts often.

In the meantime, as I am posting on my 28th birthday, I thought I’d share some lessons from the past year.

1. My advice as I look back on 27 is to expect the unexpected.  Life, or the life we plan, is just that, a plan.  Plans change.  The timeline we think we’ll meet isn’t always so and if you allow that to be okay, it will be. **If you stop reading now, you’ll be fine.  If you keep going, you’ll be better.  Here’s more advice, don’t skip around too much when you’re reading you’ll miss things.
2. Ask questions.  When someone uses words you don’t understand, terms you’ve never heard or a tone you’re unsure about, ask them what they mean.  Be sure.  Being wrong because of your assumptions is worse that being embarrassed because you don’t understand.  Asking questions means you’re still learning.  Learning means you’re alive.
3. Eat lunch, not at your desk.  Meet with friends, old colleagues, old friends, new mentors, eat lunch and break bread.  Share stories and laugh and really try to do it more often.  Give yourself extra bonus points for walking to lunch.  (This is something I am still working on.)
4. Set goals and work really hard at them.  Determine what you want to have – a new job, a new title, a new skill, a new triumph.  And do it.  Take notes a long the way, follow up, put your head down and cross off every small accomplishment and relish them.  When you still aren’t at your goal (and the timeline doesn’t line up, reread #1) go back to it and work harder.  P.S.  When you hit that goal and you get that title/job/skill/life change, celebrate like the rockstar you are.
5. Don’t feel badly about crying or not crying.  Sometimes the best medicine you can give yourself is a moment to cry.  Other times the best thing you can do for yourself is to not cry.  There are no rules.  If you think you’re crying too much, find something to laugh at.
6. Celebrate, everything.  Celebrate good weather, celebrate small wins (see #4), celebrate friends, celebrate birthdays, engagements, weddings, graduations, babies and all the good moments that bring us together.  The human condition brings us together, if you bring cake the human condition becomes a party.
7. Don’t be afraid to change things up.  The way “it” has always been done isn’t because it is the best way to do it, but rather because change takes thought, time and a little muscle.  Change is good and so is building up some muscle.
8. Know in your head, your heart and to the ends of your finger tips, that you’re not done.  What you know at 12, 17, 24, or what I think I know at 28 should only be a shadow of what I know and will accomplish the next time I blow out the candles.

Here’s hoping all of my wishes come true… and yours too!