Throwback: Lessons Learned From Moving Away

{Personal Journal from July 24, 2010}

There I was... just 27 days away from moving back home to Arizona after 2 beautiful years in Colorado. I lived in the suburbs of Denver from age 22-24. I loved every minute of it. It was the best experience of my life to move away from everything I had ever known and adventure in unknown lands with nothing but my car packed and my independent heart seeking adventure and growth....I found just that!

I can because I am:

This move has been something I've been thinking about for awhile. And now, all the stars are aligned and I'm ready. More ready than ever. A year ago, even 2 months ago, I wasn't in the place I am right now. But the reality is, I came here for a few select reasons:

Change & Challenge
To discover myself

There has been a long list of changes, a TON of challenges, and lots of lessons learned. I have a pretty solid grasp on who looks back at me in the mirror each day!

Here are some pivotal life lessons I learned from moving away from all I had ever known to live in Colorado. I hope they speak to your heart today:

I am a woman of drive and ambition who strives for excellence.
I've learned that perfection is a fallacy-I can only do my very best and that it's not just "okay" but it's completely necessary to celebrate your own successes (no matter how big or small).
I push myself to be the best at whatever I do.
I have a huge heart and in the past, have made foolish decisions with whom I've allowed to get inside of it. I've loved selflessly and been hurt deeply.
I thought I had it all figured out, and I'm glad to find that I evolved past that point.
I'll go well above and beyond to be there for another, and in so doing have been cheated, lied to, stolen from, and disrespected.
I've made many acquaintances and few friends.
I've explored my independence.
I'm on the path to debt recovery and learned that everything has a price.
I've spent a lot of time alone, reflecting, learning, facing the scary territory of really evaluating myself-past, present, and who I want to become in the future.
I've learned maturity has NO correlation to the number of days once has seen...and "success" (according to the world's standards) has no reflection on the character and emotional stability of a person.
I've learned that one's value isn't shown by the number in their bank account.
I've learned that just because you may have a comfort and connection with someone doesn't make you romantically compatible.
I've had to humble myself and learn what it's like to not always have a say.
I've learned that I just may be as afraid of success as I am of failure.
And I've learned that nothing can be that hard when you break it down into steps.
Life is a process. As long as you're eager to evolve-you'll continually see things in a new light-you'll learn to appreciate the process, no matter how difficult it was going through it.
I've become less judgmental and more accepting that everyone is in a different place in their journey-their choices have strings of repercussions tied to them, just like mine.
I've learned not everyone can see the difference between pebbles and pearls.
I would rather be the exception to the rule. CONSISTENCY, HONESTY and COMMUNICATION are the three non-negotiable REQUIREMENTS I have for any relationship I have.
I've learned you can't put too much blame on someone when they don't know what they don't know. Ignorance is NOT bliss, it's foolishness.