OkCupid has a question that asks you if you would rather your life be interesting or good. I chose good. But I can see how interesting could also be nice. 2013 has been interesting, sometimes in ways I would have rather had it not be. At the end of 2012, I drove down to San Diego alone and in my lonesome journey (alone, not lonely) I passed time by thinking about the year that was and planning for the year ahead. And 2013 has been good mostly because I did everything I told myself I would do in that drive with myself. And life gave the rest. 2013 has been the year of girl friends. All of 2012 I moped that I didnt have enough friends, in particular girlfriends. That worked itself out last year. 2013 was also the year I figured out I would stay in America all my life if I could. It took a fiasco with my H-1B for the realization to hit me in the face but I'm glad I did because life would have been so irresolute if not for that. 2013 was also the year when I finally decided to get off my butt and do something about the things I was not so happy about. It was the year of my first intended job switch. It was also the year when I decided I'd try online dating. 2013 was about major lifestyle changes- going Paleo, going Proactiv, going curly girl- and happiness with the results. It was the year for the loss of an aunt, an almost loss of a family dog, a year for the wedding of a cousin and another going off to college. It was the year for friends and accidents, friends and weddings, friends and career switches. It was the year for traveling, the year for old hobbies, for books and art and music, the year for reconnecting with some good old friends just as it was for falling off the good books of others. It was a good year and an interesting year. I couldn't have asked for more.
2013 was for self-realization. I realized I am a jealous person. That I was prone to fits of anxiety that I was not doing all that I could do, being all that I could be, living up to my potential, losing out on my slice of eudaimonic happiness. And seeing other people do all the things I could and should be doing sends me into swirls of panic. I realized most people, even the people I was jealousing on (that should be a phrase), go through this and I realize that should prove to me this is inconsequential and unnecessary. I also realized that happiness requires some effort and one is not just handed it on a platter. And that one must surround oneself with art and music and beautiful things to live a life with art and music and beautiful things. I realized my support network is best populated with people who are in the same places in life as I am. I also realized it is immensely rewarding to talk to other friends too once in a while and to see the people they have grown into and to be inspired by them. With that in mind, I realized that it's time for a new support network, that it's time for a new city. But that's for a later time. That's for 2014.
Here's to an amazing year!
2013 was for self-realization. I realized I am a jealous person. That I was prone to fits of anxiety that I was not doing all that I could do, being all that I could be, living up to my potential, losing out on my slice of eudaimonic happiness. And seeing other people do all the things I could and should be doing sends me into swirls of panic. I realized most people, even the people I was jealousing on (that should be a phrase), go through this and I realize that should prove to me this is inconsequential and unnecessary. I also realized that happiness requires some effort and one is not just handed it on a platter. And that one must surround oneself with art and music and beautiful things to live a life with art and music and beautiful things. I realized my support network is best populated with people who are in the same places in life as I am. I also realized it is immensely rewarding to talk to other friends too once in a while and to see the people they have grown into and to be inspired by them. With that in mind, I realized that it's time for a new support network, that it's time for a new city. But that's for a later time. That's for 2014.
Here's to an amazing year!
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