The Beginning...

Essentially, my new life is me walking away from almost everything I've known and making a new beginning to a new life for myself down here in Jacksonville, Florida. I sold my house, left my friends and family, rid myself of all excess material possessions, and came down with myself and my two dogs to create the beginning to the life I've wanted. I don't know how long that life will be in Jacksonville, but I'm okay with that. I'm excited for that. The future of my life is unknown and unplanned and I can't wait to watch it unfold as the days, weeks, months, and years go by.

The first couple of months of this new adventure have been pretty eventful, however, let's start from the beginning. In an effort to not drag out the backstory, it might be a good idea to divulge only the Reader's Digest version of how and why this happened. I moved here from Atlanta a couple of months ago, just me and my pups, with the purpose of finding and understanding myself and gaining a new perspective on life and what exactly I want from it. At my age, this probably should've been done years ago (like my dad always pushed me to do) and I should probably have a lot of answers already that I don't have. But that's okay; and it's now led me to this point of my new salt life, which I've wanted for as long as I can remember. I've visited many times before and always said I wouldn't return to Atlanta, yet somehow grown up responsibilities would win out every time and back to Atlanta I would go.

Then last year I separated from my husband after less than a year of marriage: what an eye opener. All of a sudden, I don't know who I am, what I'm doing or what I even want to do.

Do I want to be married at all?

Do I even want children like I always thought I had?

Do I want to live the day to day life of uneventful hours just to end up falling asleep at the end of the day without excitement?

Now, let me not downplay what this life is for many people, which is nothing short of an amazing blessing. Being married and having a family is a beautiful, wonderful thing, which most people aspire to have at some point in their life, and I love and support that. But the thoughts racing through my head were just, what if that life isn't for me? As wonderful as it might be, what if that's not my path? I had some rough years growing up (which maybe we'll get into in the future), and once I settled down, got a job, and enrolled in college, I thought I was back on the right path. Then I met my now ex-husband and we created our own life together. We got engaged, I graduated from college, and we got married.

Everything was perfect, right? Maybe. In the eyes of everyone else and mostly in my own eyes at the time. That was it, I was living my dream.

But what if I wasn't living MY dream?

What if I'm living the dream I think I should be living, the dream I've been told is mine?

What if I'm not in love at all and my own dream is something completely different?

I think it is.

So now here I am, in Jacksonville, Florida, trying to find and live out my dream. And I'll tell you what, so far, so damn good. I'm loving it here. I've found a new job that gives me the flexibility I need to do all the other things I want to do. I've had beach days, park days, dog park days, and good walking adventures with my pups, Tyson and Lola, who, by the way, are loving it down here just as much as I am. I've had solo beach days with much pensive time to reflect and gain perspective. Once summer hits and it's full on beach weather, I'll be less than surprised if I end up there on almost a daily basis. I've gotten into therapy for about four weeks now and let me tell you, I am a fan. It's done wonders already with so many things; I will definitely be continuing. I have plans to do many activities and try new things such as boxing, kickboxing, yoga, surfing, windsurfing, paddleboarding, scuba diving, rock climbing, swimming with dolphins, and the list goes on and on. I'm ready to create a life the way I would want to create it. The traveling will continue as well as I revisit favorite places and add many, many new ones to my checked off list.

I would love for everyone to join me and follow me on this adventure. Comments and questions are always more than welcome, as having outside perspective is incredibly insightful in regards to finding myself, my path, and gaining a whole new appreciation for living my actual dream. I'm incredibly happy so far with this decision and I look forward to finding more and more happiness in every day. I want as many people as possible to see that and maybe find and follow their own dreams as well, whatever that may be.