You are Elegance, & Freedom, & Everything I Know

I've learned so many things over the past few years, but the most important thing I've learned is to be who I really am, which means being 100-percent honest, not only with others, but with myself. I started this blog as a diary, so when I was feeling down or needed motivation, I could look back and see how far I've come. If I wasn't honest, how would I know exactly where I was and exactly how I was feeling? That's been a huge part of my success- remembering how life used to be just seven short months ago.

Another thing I've learned is to be excited, yet realistic, about the journey ahead. I start a new job tomorrow, and although I am a tad bit nervous, the immense amount of excitement I'm feeling definitely puts my nerves to rest.When I started my first "big girl job" right out of college, I was not the person I am now. For the first year, I felt like a fish out of water who would never fit in. Over five years later, my co-workers felt like family. Now that I am happy being myself, I am so excited about the next chapter of my life.

I am more than confident that wonderful things lie ahead, although I know there will be times where my life isn't going as I hoped it would, and I know I will make mistakes along the way. The best thing to do is to turn mistakes into opportunities and the bad things that get thrown your way into beautiful ones.

Speaking of bad, yet beautiful things, a million thoughts were running through my head about beginning my next journey. Will they like me? Will I like them? Will I do well? Then, I realized there is only one answer to all of those questions. Sure, I don't know the exact answer, but I do know that whatever the answer turns out to be, everything will be okay, because I will make it that way.

Then, I heard a lyric in MAGIC!'s song, "Let Your Hair Down," that solidified the fact that every outcome in my life isn't completely up to me, but the way I feel about every outcome is:

"To me you are more than just skin and bones.

You are elegance, and freedom, and everything I know."

He was singing about another person, but it's even more powerful when you can view the lyrics as a personal testimony. I know that I am more than what I appear to be and that I really am everything I know. I know that this time in my life is only the beginning, and I can not clearly explain how much I am looking forward to what's to come.