1.07.2010

400th Post: A New Start

I can't believe this is my 400th post! After three and a half years of blogging, I can say that this experience has been life-changing—seriously. I look at life differently. I take more pictures of my life. I look at myself differently and can better see where I've been, where I am, and where I want to go. Blogging in many ways is a way of self-accountability for me. Yes, I love having readers and receiving comments, but really I blog for myself. I started blogging the summer between my high school graduation and my first semester of college—how amazing it is that I have a consistent and (relatively) thorough record of these important years! Because of blogging I feel that I have a more secure sense of who I am. For my 400th post, I want to introduce my word for 2010.

Last year my word was light, a word about which I was really excited at first. However, throughout the year I found myself thinking more about 2008's word, become, a word that I think will affect my entire life. So in thinking about what I wanted to do this year, I wanted to find a word that means more to me than last year's did, means just as much to me as become does.

And I came up with nothing. Until I talked to my mom.

The other day I was talking on the phone with my mom—my beautiful, incredible, loving, insightful mother—about something that was weighing heavily on my mind. I didn't know what to do, and I felt somewhat lost. My mom gave me several words of useful advice, but the most poignant and meaningful thing she said to me was this: "Charlotte, make your own happiness." That stopped me in my tracks, stopped my thoughts, my tears, my words.

While not a single word, this phrase, make your own happiness, affected me strongly upon hearing it initially, and it's been in my mind ever since. This is what 2010 will be about: making my own happiness.




2010 will be a big year for me: I'm graduating college and will enter the "real world," a world ripe with more uncertainty than what I've experienced. I don't know what else will happen this year—I'm always amazed at how so many things happen that I don't expect—but regardless, I will make my own happiness.

6 comments:

Serin said...

That's a great motto!

paws said...

You go, girl!

Claire said...

git 'er done!

michelle said...

Beautiful! I love it. It sounds like something that will affect you the rest of your life, as well.

I think it's amazing that you have this record of your college years, I totally I wish I had something like that!

Hannah Holt said...

Here comes a really long comment. I promise it relates... My senior year of college, I was talking to my college advisor about job interviewing. She recommended that when having job interviews over lunch, never salt your food before you taste it. Some HR departments (I have no idea who) won't hire people who salt food before tasting it. Salting before tasting shows presumption, an unwillingness to try new things.

After that meeting, I tried "Unsalting my days." I walked different routes to class. I sat in different seats each day. At least once a week, I tried doing something more major that put me out of my social comfort zone.

I found that seeing things from slightly different perspectives, is one way to make happiness. Hope you have a great new year!

Denise said...

Love you lots.

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