Transitions are fun and exciting...thoughts on life

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of spending the weekend with some ridiculously amazing women. The time spent with them was in celebration of the upcoming birth of one of my dearest friends. She, being an adventurous warrior woman, wanted us all to camp and hike down to the Yuba river before spending the next day in celebration, prayer and pampering of her Blessingway Ceremony.

I was hesitant.

My brain started going into fear mode. Over two years ago, we spent time at the same camp site and hiked down to the same river during the bachelorette celebration for another friend.

At that time, I was overweight, out of shape and in a pretty unhealthy period of my life. I don't think I knew how unhappy I was, but I did know that my body did not want to cooperate with the mile hike up from the river. I felt slow - an impediment to the rest of the group. However, I had these amazing women who lifted me up when I didn't truly know how to lift myself.

Back to the present:

The memory of this time frightened me. Was I going to be able to do this hike without being a burden?

I tried to convince myself that my fear stemmed from my care for my friend...she is 8 months pregnant, I thought, she can't do this kind of hike....wrong!

Pushing through it, I knew I needed to support her and her vision for this time. I couldn't let my own fear, and memories of times past cloud my love and support of her.

What I constantly find in times like this, is how amazing the power of the universe is. When we think we won't be able to move past, the universe has its ways of showing us we can, putting the right people in our life at the right time and pushing us to see beyond our own self-made barriers.

Lesson learned (again) - I am strong!

I have worked hard to become healthy - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I set my sites everyday on what I can do to keep becoming healthy and it is exciting.

After returning from the hike we ate an amazing dinner and my strong pregnant friend asked us to play a "game". She asked us to look at some words that represented the things she had been going through or thinking about throughout her pregnancy - i.e. hungry, pushing, love, family - and then asked for each of us to share how one of those words relates to how we are feeling in our lives right now. The "game" turned into much more of an emotional group love and therapy session and it was amazing.

I happened to go first with the word "Transition".

Transition: noun movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage,subject, concept, etc., to another; change. (from dictionary.com)

Transition for me represents the journey I have been on the past two years. I transitioned from a time of un-health to a time of health, from a time of sadness to a time of happiness, from a time of fear to a time of growth, from one amazing city to a new adventure in the bay, from the single life to an amazing relationship. 

My life has changed and transitioned greatly, but my takeaway from it is this: transitions are fun and exciting! 

Now, I just have to remember that everyday -even when transitions are hard and painful, or scary - a transition means something new, fun, exciting and joyful is around the corner. 

Crazy little thing called...

It's pretty amazing when things just start to come together in your life. Two weeks ago I found out that I am returning to my job next year, and I am really excited. I am very happy that I get to continue the work that I am doing and expand the programs that I have started working on. The staff at my school has been extremely supportive this year and I feel honored to be able to work with such a great group of people.

A few weeks ago I also met an amazing man. I don't think that I have ever written candidly about relationships on my blog, mostly because nothing this noteworthy has graced my life since starting my blogging journey. It's a little surreal to think about.

Yesterday quite possibly was one of the best days I have had in years. We went to Bottlerock music festival in Napa. Being that he is a musician (extremely talented) he had played there the night before and with a lot of strategic moves we were able to get backstage everywhere we went! This resulted in being backstage to see Barenaked Ladies, LL Cool J and The Fray among others. It was an amazing day. Below are just a few of the photos documenting our dreamlike experience.

Barenaked Ladies

LL Cool J

LL Cool J

The Fray

 

Backstage!!!

It's been a while

It's been a while since my last post. Let's see...in that time I have:

Started a new job
Moved to a new city
Bought a new car
Been to Mexico
Been to Tahoe
Met new friends
Started a new class
Learned a lot

It's been a busy 6 months, but I am happy and health and doing well. At the end of July I moved from Chico, my home for the past 10 years, to Antioch, for new job. I started that job right away and it has been a whirlwind ever since. I am learning a lot in this new job. For example, in my last counseling position I was responsible for lot of behavior counseling, individual and group academic counseling, but in this job I am responsible for a lot of scheduling and college preparedness. It is great, but a big learning curve. I seem to be doing well though and I really like the face paced atmosphere. I also have an amazing team of women I get to work with everyday and an awesome administrative team to support me as well.

Over the winter break my immediate family went to Mexico for 6 days. I was pretty hesitant about the trip as I am very fond of our "traditional" Christmas, but I have to say, 6 days with nothing but the pool and the beach as amazing! All we did all day was bask in the sun, eat, read and repeat. I needed the rest and relaxation and it has allowed me to come back rejuvinated for this semester. I also spent 3 days in Tahoe with my best friends and got to meet the newest addition to our friend group, baby Hayden...it was awesome to say the least.

Tonight I started taking a class at the local community college. I wasn't sure about it going in, but it ended up being a great start and I think I am going to be challenged which is always good. It is a gospel choir, which I thought I was done with...but it keeps pulling me back in. The director is amazing and really knows his stuff, so I think it will be an great experience.

And, that's the gist of my last 6 months. Lots of work, making friends at work, taking time off, and starting new. Excited to see what the next 6 months brings, but I won't be taking as much time off from the blogosphere this time!