turning 30

The final year of this decade started with a few really rough months, but it's ended well. Overall this has been a pretty amazing decade.

I completed my undergraduate and graduate degrees, got married, lived in four states, taught special education for four years, started a freelance writing career, bought and sold a condo, bought a house, and adopted three cats.

There have been a lot of hard times along the way. I am really grateful that I am done with having a long distance relationship, that Jake is done with med school and intern year, and that we live in a place that feels like home again where we have a lot of family and friends. There are plenty of things that still aren't easy, but I'm happier and less stressed than I've been in quite a long time.

When I turned 20, I didn't know what I thought about much of anything. I certainly don't have everything figured out, but I have a lot of confidence about my beliefs and opinions now.

I have a lot more confidence about myself in general, too.

I have furthered my writing, jewelry making, and photography skills more than I ever thought possible. I'm sure that if you showed my 20 year old self the pieces that I've produced during the past couple years, I would not have believed that I did any of that work.

Whether or not I ever go back to teaching, I am not sorry that I got the degrees that I did. My academic career and experience teaching played a huge role in shaping who I am today. A large part of why I feel confident putting myself out there as a professional writer and artist is because of that background and expertise.

A couple months ago, I put together a five year plan of sorts with goals for each year. I highly recommend this exercise to anyone. During the past couple years, I've avoided this topic with many people and made a lot of excuses about why I haven't done something like that because things in my life haven't always gone the way I planned. It's nice to be at a point in my life where I can start moving past some of that and finding a balance between living for today and making my own long-term goals a priority.

Turning 30 feels a lot better than turning 20. I'm excited about what this next decade in my life holds.