grateful

It is a word that keeps popping in my head this week. Grateful. There is so much to be grateful for this week, this month and even this year. So much has happened since last Thanksgiving and none of it looks the same. New city, new job, new friends, new routines to just name a few. With each piece of change, I am finding the silver lining of it all months later. Now that I can properly reflect on the last year, I can see that things really do happen for a reason. At times, that reason seemed so unclear. There were plans that were shattered, doors shut and times when I didn’t have a choice. This past year has been a whirlwind of big life changes and I am so happy where I ended up in life.

A year ago, I was bored with my current routine and craved change. I spent my post-college years living at home and switching jobs every year or so because I got bored of the routine. There were no challenges and I found myself getting lost in doing the same thing every day. The Universe had other plans and I had to make the difficult decision to walk away from a job that felt like home. At the same time, my parents were making the final steps to move to sell our home and move to North Carolina to retire. I didn’t realize it yet, but everything was falling into place for me to move to Philadelphia.

I am celebrating my 8 month anniversary of being a Philadelphia resident and so much has happened in the last few months. Each day I learn something new about myself, about living alone and where my path in life is headed. For the first time in a while, I can genuinely say that I am happy. That doesn’t mean that I don’t struggle daily or question every single decision I make. There are nights I go to bed on time and others when I get into bed late and overthink about all of the things I didn’t get done that day. On those nights, I take a minute to slow down and remember that I did everything I dreamed of. I get to go to bed in my cozy bed with my cat, in my own apartment in Philly that I pay for myself. Sometimes, I have to stop and remind myself how lucky I am that I almost have this adulting thing figured out. I am very fortunate to have found a guy to enjoy life with, to get things down from the top shelf and to hang things up on my wall for me.

Sometimes it is easier to point out the things that are going wrong in our lives instead of focusing on the things that are actually working. During this season of reflecting on what we are thankful for, my list is is full.