At the start of this year I wrote this about the Year of Opportunity:
Characterized by a desire to explore and treat new experiences with more positivity and excitement, I hope to make the most of what could be our final year living in California while also increasing my appreciation for the life I’ve built.
It certainly was our final year in California, and that shifted my mindset to focus not only on the opportunities in San Francisco but also any that would be available once we moved.
This theme was an unmitigated success. There were countless times when I was in a rut but managed to push through, reminding myself that whatever I was “stuck” with was an opportunity, something I’d worked to achieve, a privilege I had at this stage in my life. It was powerful each time. I increased my appreciation for everyone in my life, for the work I do, for the area in which I lived, for all the activities and events I was able to enjoy. It was an absolutely wild year, and I picked an excellent guiding beacon to help me through it.
I wasted no time searching out the activities in Connecticut that would help create a healthy transition. I joined a baseball team and a community concert band. But, I didn’t try to recreate a previous life and overload myself to fill the gaps. Erin and I made sure we paid attention to our new home, spent time with each other, and traveled a lot. I had time to give NaNoWriMo a proper, successful attempt between it all. There have been plenty of bumps during this transition. Still, we’ve navigated them by maintaining a foundation of excitement and appreciation for where we are and what it represents as a reflection of our hard work and commitment over many, long years.
I’ve always been somewhere between a pragmatist and an optimist. I don’t tend to panic when I see things going poorly, and I default to assuming things will work out fairly well. Part of that is an ingrained sense of privilege from any combination of societal factors, which I will always do my best to acknowledge. And I don’t particularly believe that one can mindset their way out of a dead end. But looking at the world in a positive light is free, and it certainly makes me feel better. I enjoy everything just a little bit more and am willing to try a few more things than I would have in the past because of this theme and the corrective wrist-slapping that encouraged me to adjust how I view the world.
This year has been tremendous for my growth, and though I can still identify the patterns of behavior that belong to younger versions of myself, I remain optimistic that I can iterate on the idea of opportunity long into the future and see the return on that mental investment. I’m leaving this year feeling bittersweet about all these changes in life, but satisfied that I took every opportunity I could to show my appreciation for the people around me and experienced all that I reasonably could.