From Nine-to-Five, to Never More Alive!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who goes back through and looks at all their old Instagram pictures every once in a great while (right?), so I will continue with this post completely unashamed (as I tend to in most situations)...

Today I decided to take a peek back at the photos that I've shared on Instagram, and it took me on a ride through the last year and a half of my life. Which has been pretty freaking epic. In the last year and a half, just about exactly, now that I think about it, I have:

Graduated from college 

Got a job in & moved to LA to start work at a 6-week job, that transitioned into a seven month job

Decided to move to Spain
Moved home for what should have been one month, but turned into three (thank you visa)

Moved to Sevilla and started teaching English

And now, most recently, moved to Mallorca as an au pair for two months

Also having taken place during that time have been countless concerts, festivals, raves, events, weekend trips, travels, new friends, old friends, love found and then left, family time, food time, and so much more!

When 2012 started, I had a good feeling about it. Maybe because it started at SnowGlobe, where only good things happen and the best years are begun, but I just knew that 2012 was going to be my year. I had just finished school, which meant that there were bound to be some big things coming my way, but I couldn't have begun to foresee what the coming year (now year and a half) would bring. 

The theme of my IG account started out like any other; just my life. And then it picked up momentum as a place where I would post influential images, quotes, sayings, and government-type blasts to inspire people and get them thinking. The entire time though, the theme that flowed was one of happiness, love, and doing things that scare you -- taking big chances, not staying sedentary, exploring, living large, and getting out into the world. Some of the images I posted leading into my decision to move back to Spain made it pretty clear that I had to make the big move, or I would be neglecting all the advice and words I'd been passing around. Such as:

The inspiration and positivity themes remain, but one major thing has changed since I first started sharing my life through photos with the world. I got an IG account within a couple months of my move to LA (when they opened it up to Android), so it's a pretty good way for me to track the moves I've been making the last year. And let me tell you something, I was on that nine-to-five (six in the case of Disney/ABC workers) grind so harddd. Of course I was enjoying my life and loving the moments in it, but when I look back at my pictures, I see a schedule that I never wanted to have, and never will again. 

To wake up at 4:30am to go and work out, then get ready for work, have my morning espresso, make breakfast, leave everyday at the same time, park in the same place, go through the same doors, to the same cube, then open the emails, check them, respond, start the work, soak in the television programming, anxiously await lunch, take lunch, back to work, more emails, flittering around, waste time, do this, do that, count down the minutes till 18h, go to my car, leave work, sit in traffic again, get home, make dinner, craft, do whatever, watch nature programming, then go to bed knowing the next day would more-or-less be the same... O_o OHMYGOSH. I'm tired and bored just from writing all of that! For real. Wow. I can't believe I survived doing that (not always with the waking up to work out..more often no than yes really, haha) for seven months!

The fact that a cup of espresso in the mornings made me excited is good, it's nice to enjoy the little things in life, but the fact that it was "my new morning," I'm not so fond of. Also, the fact that reading who was nominated for the Emmy's in Variety while drinking a beer was a great start to a weekend, kinda makes me want to gag. Of course the setting couldn't be more amazing, but for me, I'm pretty anti-Hollywood, so to have been in "so deep," really makes my skin curl. (And yes I realize that I was in a remarkably blessed position, I knew it while I was in it and never took it for granted or forgot to say thanks. But, it was also a position that we as humans don't really belong in, and it was in an industry that has been slowly polluting humanity since it started. Sorry, no offense, Ent.) (Also not giving any of the credit due to my dinomate who was there by my side almost every day and night in LA. Without you, I would have probably gone insane and been one depressed lady. I love you forever and always, my beautiful, twin soul!)

And now that I am sitting here in the 2-year old's bedroom that is mine for now, with a view of sailboats and yachts [if I crane my head a bit] out the window, and the ocean on all sides of me, I am blown away that I once was an espresso-in-the-morning-before-I-head-to-work gal. All of that really seems like a lifetime ago, like a life I don't really know. 

Don't get me wrong, I was loving life, that's all I can really do, but, I'd be lying if I said that everyday at work I didn't think about returning to Spain and getting back into the world to travel and learn. I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss my chilly pad with my dinomate just living in love all the time, and I was about to cry looking back at all the times that I had in LA, but I am so much more open now than I have been in a long time. And I feel so much more connected to the world, even if I've left all the familiar behind. 

We are children of the earth. We are not meant for one corner, one land, one territory or nationality. We are EARTHLINGS, meant to roam free, where we want, like the birds and the animals. So why have we become so accepting of a life that keeps us chained to the same desk for years on end with just the hope to move to the corner office getting us through the next day? Mala, mala ("bad, bad"), and certainly not for me.

I respect the life everyone has chosen, it is their own beautiful path, but I also urge everyone to break out of the mold and do something a bit drastic with their time here on earth. We've only got one shot at this life, and when I die, I want that to be one of the most epic, adventure-filled flicks I've ever seen! ;)

I hope the breeze kisses you all sweetly as you go about your days, and that you consider what is something you can do, in your given situation at this time, that is a bit off-beat! There is ALWAYS a way to spice up your life, it doesn't take money, wits, or connections to do it. Just being open to all that is around you, and learning to trust the world a little bit more.

 Blessings, Love, Gratitude, & Light