The Past Year

It's hard to believe that here we are looking at the end of 2014.  What a year.

I've been thinking a lot about how much I've been through, how many places I've gone in the last year.  Castro Valley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, seeing the Pacific ocean for the first time, two cross-country drives, plus a scenic drive from California to Washington State.  Spokane, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Nelson, Kalispell, Williston, Osh Kosh... and I think I'm even missing a few.  Not to mention Hawaii.  I marked many states and cities off the bucket list this year.  And in the past 10 months I've fallen in love with this part of the country.

I've grown and been out of my comfort zone.  Travel nursing was one of the hardest, most awesome things I decided to do.  I mean I was a girl from suburban northeast Florida... never moved far away from family, never ventured out of my comfort zone in my career or personal life.  Life had very much been even keel, boring, comfortable for a long time.  I had reached a point where I felt something had to change, or I was never going to grow.

Bela and I were talking last night about the past year.  As we were listing off the things we've done,  we both just kind of stopped, not realizing just how many places we've been able to go in such a short time.  And I feel really blessed that I've been in a position to be able to do those things.

It's been an adventure for sure!  But not the day-to-day aspect of it.  There have certainly been some hard, lonely times in that year.  California was three solid months of feeling very lonely.  And that same feeling has popped up now and again here in Spokane.  There's no family nearby.  My oldest friends, the people who know me best, are back home.  My mom and dad and all my sisters and brother are on the other side of the country.  I'm facing round two of a holidays across the country away from them.  I've learned that seasonal affective disorder is, in fact, real (not that I never believed it).  Anxieties and worries have weighed me down at times.  Work has been hard, stressful, and very discouraging a lot of the time.  And I'm not looking for a bit of sympathy here, just saying that it's not always been a fun and exciting adventure.  It's easy to portray that it's always fun through facebook and instagram and even my blog.  But it's been awesome, I've grown, and I can say I've become a better person, grown more into myself.  And I've met and made some amazing friends out here too.  I'm reaching the end of 2014 with no regrets... and that's not something I've really been able to say in a long time.