What a year it has been, we started our journey together back in June when I returned from NYC for the second time this year and had chosen my housing for school at the International Culinary Center. Fast forward 6 months and I’ve been “bumming” it at the beach for 5 months. Needless to say, 2019 has been a year of change.
This year has been exciting, nerve wracking, and stressful- all wrapped into one beautiful whirlwind of chaos. The first few months of the year were pretty chill, my best friend and I visited the beach a few times, took a few trips, and worked… a lot.
March rolled around and before I knew it I was planning my trip to visit my top three schools. (Shoutout to having the best boss ever at RCC who supports and encourages me to chase my dreams and for allowing me to have time off on such short notice). I had considered going to school prior to this, but wasn’t serious until this point in time. I learned that I can either stay here and continue to do this forever (not that I didn’t love Aspen) or go after the “more” I desperately needed in life. At the time I thought the “more” was big city living and education at the finest school. Boy was I wrong.
As summer approached, I had to prioritize; tuition, housing arrangements, flights, etc. This meant more trips to NYC. In between those trips, I spent the summer soaking up the luxuries and comforts of home. I went to concerts every weekend, traveled to Mexico, road tripped to Nashville, and had the most amazing summer. As summer came to a close, some other things did too…..Aspen.
Another change…..selling Aspen was a whirlwind of emotions, but knowing Rachel was going to take good care of my baby eased the pain a little. I knew that this was the next step in achieving my goals and I knew I couldn’t let the community down by closing it- Rachel was an answer to so many prayers. No other experience thus far in life that has taught me as much as Aspen did. For that, I am forever grateful.
Also, my RCC job came to a close. I can truly say that if it weren’t for that job and those people, I probably wouldn’t be typing this post to you because I wouldn’t have moved and went to school. I worked with the most incredible people who helped me see that baking and pastry was my true passion in life and that I wasn’t getting any younger. Therefore, I needed to do something about it!
So here we are, living at the beach, learning every day, and slowly learning to own this new life of mine. Despite the chaos, I am thankful for this course of events because they’ve taught me valuable lessons:
- Plans change and we might get frustrated, angry, and ill, but what we don’t see is the big picture; everything works out in the end.
- What you think you want is not always what you need, learning the difference can be difficult, but worth it.
- People change and that’s okay.
- You have the option to control the controllable, don’t underestimate that power in your hands.
- Never miss the opportunity to drive home or spend time with family and friends.
- Choose to kill people with kindness. One of my favorite waitresses at the beach actually told me that she is always so nice because she never knows what her customers may be going through. Such good advice.
- Tell people how you feel. Don’t go to bed angry; tomorrow is never promised.
- Be thankful for the good times and the bad, they all lead to right where you’re supposed to be.
I hope you go into 2020 relishing the good moments of 2019 and remembering the lessons you learned in the bad moments. I hope 2020 brings you joy. Remember that, every day is truly a gift. You get to wake up. You get to work. You get to go to school. Things that we often take for granted, I hope you’ll cherish them a little more. That’s my 2020 goal.