It's been a minute...
Hold up... let me catch up...
Phew, alright thanks for sticking around.
I've been in a very self-reflective mood the last week and thought I would share some of those with you (whoever you are that's actually reading this).
What makes us who we are? Is it the people we surround ourselves with (whether voluntarily or involuntarily)? Is it the experiences, both good and bad, that we encounter? Is it merely circumstance? Or is it the combination of everything that makes us our true selves?
I've been thinking back on where I was at this point last year and two years ago. I realize that, even with the bad things that still pop up, I'm genuinely happy with my life. A year ago I made the decision to move to NYC and here I am. Two years ago I had (pretty much) made the decision to leave a toxic relationship, and I did. People say that I am strong or that I'm a fighter because of these things, but I think it was just that I was determined. I set my mind on something and made it happen. I can now say that I am the person I'm meant to be.
Is everything in my life perfect? No, of course not. Far from it actually. But what is perfection? Is it something that we create individually or is it thrust upon us by others? How do we determine when something is perfect? I don't think there is any set formula for this. If we live our lives by our means and don't let others dictate how we feel and act, what's to say that our lives are exactly what they're supposed to be?
Ok, I've gotten off-track a bit. Let's reel this in...
The person that I am today is not the person I was a year ago, two years ago, ten years ago. We are always changing, always evolving, and constantly learning. Living in NYC is a perfect example of that: what worked yesterday may not work today and we have to be able to adapt to anything that may come.
I feel I've lost the point again. How about this...
Think about the person you imagined you would be when you were 5, 10, 15, 18, 21 (keep going if you need to). Are you who you thought you'd be? Are you doing what you thought you'd be doing? If you had told me at any of these ages that I would be divorced and living in Manhattan, I would have laughed in your face. Even 30-year-old Danielle would completely throw that idea away as absurd. But we are never going to be who we thought we'd be. Life changes us, people change us... sometimes for good and other times for worse. But no matter the reason for the change, we are never the same person with each passing year. We learn, we grow (hopefully), and we adapt as we need to.
As long as we're living with kindness and not hurting anyone, who's to say this life isn't exactly what it was meant to be?
- Danielle
