The Road Forward is Never Linear

“I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.”

― Carl Sandburg

Another year, another post.

This year has been a wild ride to say the least. There’s been moments that have tested my perseverance as well as moments that I never thought I would get to experience outside of dreams. Through all of this, my world inside and out has changed significantly. And with this change, I’ve often struggled to come to terms with what my new reality has become.

I’m not even sure where to start with this years recap but I could start with my move to a new house and getting the opportunity to live with my partner. After living on my own for so long it took some time to get used to living under the same roof as another human being but it’s been one of the highlights of my year. We’ve added an additional cat to our little family and have had the absolute pleasure of slowly creating this home together.

Another great joy that I managed to find, is the feeling of being on two wheels. After dreaming of this since I was in my late teens, I finally mustered the courage to go out and get my motorcycle license. With the support of my friends and my incredible partner, I was able to achieve this in a few short months. The freedom and exhilaration that I get when I’m riding on this machine is something that I haven’t experienced in years and I still have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not indeed, dreaming. With winter coming, it’s been put away for the winter but I’m looking forward to many more miles on it.

With this, life got chaotic though and It was a perfect storm. A new home routine, injuries that have started to crop up, and more time spent at work trying to climb the corporate ladder that have led to me ignoring my physical health to a severe extent. My running career has all but stopped and my exhaustion in the last 8 months has led to a relatively sedentary lifestyle. I also found myself ignoring every hobby that I’ve grown to love over the previous years. That includes keeping up on this Blog, cooking, reading, exploring my world, and being physically active. This was a tough thing for me to become okay with and I can’t say for certain that I am sitting well with this outcome but I have come to the realization that after moving non stop for the last 3 years, I am indeed, Burnt out. So, what does the future look like?

These last two months have been some of the busiest that I’ve experienced in a while and this resulted in functioning in survival mode. Having had the last two weeks with a little bit more time to relax, I’ve been able to come with some commitments to myself and my soul.

I will commit to focusing on things that bring me joy. I will continue to cook amazing meals and continue to post them here along with various other things through this journey. I will commit to continuing to learn new things and to grow and explore the world and I will commit to focusing on my physical and mental health as a priority in the upcoming year.

While it may be hard to see the progress that we’ve made through our own judgements on our perceived failures, we have made progress. The progress may be different than what we were expecting but it’s still progress. Sometimes life changes and our vision of what a good life is will change with this. Moving forward in a different direction doesn’t mean you’ve failed.