Keepin It Real Thursday: Change!

Change.  It is one of the scariest words to so many people and the most exciting to others.  I'm not sure where I fit on the continuum before our recent move, but I have hit every spot along the way in the last few months.

Post-Match Day I don't think I thought about the realities of how much our lives would change.  I think I just busied myself with the details to avoid the emotional side of change.  I started to look back over my No Doubt board on pinterest which is where I put quotes that speak to me at the moment and I think it perfectly paints how I've dealt with change over the last few months.  It was sort of funny really.

Here are my first post match day pins.

And that's exactly how I felt.  I felt bombarded by chaos and a little fear, but excited for what was to come.  I knew in my heart that this change was one we needed at this particular time in our life.  We needed to go out and see something different for a little bit so we didn't go through life feeling regret that we had the opportunity and didn't take it.

Then there was the actual move, and this seemed to be the theme for me.

And that was exactly what I needed.  I needed to just trust and know that I was in good hands.

And then when we got moved and settled and the newness wore off...I had a dark moment.  I started to think that we had made the worst decision ever! I was desperate for some normalcy...for friends...for anything that felt like home.  It was the first move in my life where I felt like I had left behind a real life.  A job, a church, a school for John, great friends.  All my other moves were greatly anticipated.  It was sad to leave home and go to college, but I knew it would happen.  And I knew I would graduate.  And I knew I would be in Hattiesburg for just a year for graduate school.  But I never knew how long we would be in Jackson and I didn't realize how much buying a home and having a career and a family would make a place so much more difficult to leave.  I decided that I hated change and was so desperate for making this move better, and my pins started looking like this...

And then like it always seems to happen, I woke up and felt better.  I didn't feel like things had returned to "normal" but I felt this huge sense of peace about where my life is.  I didn't expect my life to change this much.  I expected a location change, but not a total life change.  I can say in all honesty that I needed this change.  God needed my slate to be wiped clean so that I could see what life could look like if I opened up a little bit.  I am probably more spiritually free now than I've been in a long time because I was forced out of my comfort zone.  I never realized how much I could hide in the business that was my life, and I am now enjoying this oasis of starting again.

For example, my morning was filled with taking a bike ride down to the beach and just soaking in that beauty for a moment,

 spending time with this awesome fella,

and a spur of the moment decision to ride on over to "waterfall park" as John calls it to enjoy a few minutes there.  Is this place not so pretty?  It's really a botanical garden behind an art museum, but just so happens to be beautiful and free to the public! Hooray!

I know this won't last forever and I'll fill my days with the business of life again, but for now I'll say change is good.  Change has been liberating and allowed me to really soak in the good stuff and to understand how to be more available to others.  It's reminded me of the importance of hospitality and kindness and just how dern good it is to feel so blessed.  

So here was my latest pin...

Keep it real y'all!