La Bella Vita

I'm finally starting to slow down. I can't say that I have been rushing around aimlessly my entire life trying to accomplish tasks that seem unreachable. But I do have a natural tendency to want to please everyone, pushing myself aside. I'm done. I took a long walk along the beach with a friend the other day... and he said a quote that I will never forget. 1 + 1 = 1. You're probably thinking this doesn't make sense. And anyone with even the slightest mathematical knowledge could agree to this. But in regards to life, this is the answer. Whether you're flying solo, have a best friend, surrounded by a large family, or you are days away from tying the knot - you must always remain '1.' Often we find ourselves caught up in life and in the mindset that we are only 'half' or what we are meant to be without the other people in our life. We become so dependent on being needed, that we forget to need ourselves. We get lost in the mix of how ...

So every year I create a bucket list... I try to come up with absurd things that I think will never happen, and see how many I actually do. In all honesty, I have completed all but one thing on my bucket lists since I have started doing this... and it feels amazing. Here are a few of the things that I have done that have been on my bucket lists in the past: -visit a castle in England (I went to three!) -visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa -visit the Eiffel Tower (France) -learn to scuba dive -scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef (QLD, Australia) -ski in Colorado -learn to snowboard -spend a summer driving boats -visit Italy -leave the country every year -run a half marathon -learn to surf (I'm not a pro, but when the odds are in my favor... I can get up!) -visit the Great Ocean Road (Australia) -go Whale Watching -climb Half Dome (Yosemite National Park) -study abroad (Avondale College) -graduate from college -make someone vegan -run from Lighthouse Beach to Lake ...

I write when I need to unpack my mind. I write when it's cloudy in my head and the moisture being contained in the white creamy clouds needs an escape. I write when my mind wants to move forward, but the weight from the heavy clouds keeps the movement minimal. I write when it's time to write. The sweat pours down my face and fuses with my tears before the drops of moisture fall gently from my chin. I don't notice the tears. I don't think the world does either. The salt that is created in both forms of excretion is too similar for me to decipher which is which as they together saturate my entire face. It's been six miles. I'll run six more. My knees shake, my blisters burn and the pavement is uneven as my joints smack it without forgiveness. With every inch I move I push past the pain that resides so deeply inside. But this pain is minimal as I place all my energy into beating this inner ache. Six miles or sixty miles, it's all the same. I have to r...