A New Hello

I have two new works in progress, and I am so excited about them!  The first is a new novel filled with magic and weirdness and humor.  The second is my first attempt at creative non-fiction, and I'll let you know more about it later.  Both are bound to be learning experiences for me, and hopefully fun reads for everyone else. 

I've also found some interesting short story and poetry contests.  I think I'll be entering a few of them.  Wish me luck!

New stories aren't the only new things in my life.  I've got a new job which means a new schedule.  I've got brand new goals, brand new dreams (and maybe a few old ones have been dusted off recently too), and a brand new life.

I'm living in a "new" house (new to me anyway) surrounded by a strange mixture of new and old things.  In a lot of ways I'm still the same, but in more ways I'm really different.  I kind of feel like a caterpillar who's in the process of turning into a butterfly.  Corny, huh? Well, that's how I feel.

I'm twenty-eight.  I certainly don't have it all figured out, but surprisingly I no longer feel the need to have it all figured out.  I'm not having a panic attack or being suffocated by anxiety over not having all the answers.  

I came across a quote the other day.  I think it's my new favorite quote.  Paulo Coehlo wrote, "If you're brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello."  I think that's one of the truest quotes I've ever read.  I think saying goodbye is one of the hardest things to do, but it can also be one of the best things to do for yourself.

I said goodbye and I got a new hello.  I realized I don't need to know it all or have it all.  I just need to be happy with who I am, where I am, doing what I'm doing with whoever I'm doing it with.  And I am, you know.  Happy.  I am happy in the moment. I'm going to try to always find a way to be happy in the moment because I think life is just a short string of fleeting moments of bliss and happiness is the ability to recognize those moments when you're living them.  

I'm sorry for the scattered nature of this post, but sometimes that's how my brain works--scattered and all over the place, but hopefully still lucid enough to be useful or at least entertaining to the rest of you.