From the rubble comes...

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.”
-Einstein

That quote really struck me this morning. I spend far too many days dreading the monotony of what has become a life lived that is actually much more exciting than I give it credit for. Despite the seemingly endless hours spent behind a desk at work and hours logged in the evening at the gym, I get to do a lot of cool stuff that I totally take for granted.

I can bitch and moan about work all I want, but that's what affords me the opportunity to roadtrip through Costa Rica, spend weekends camping in Maine, hiking in New Hampshire, long weekends on Martha's Vineyard, snowboarding in Vermont, countless concerts all over the Northeast, visits to NYC, impromptu weekend jaunts to Rhode Island/Chicago/New York, skydiving in Western Massachusetts, dinners in the North End of Boston, Pats games, seeing the Sox/Yankees rivalry in realtime at one of the nation's oldest ballparks- Fenway, outdoor festivals, old school New England clambakes in the summertime, sailing lessons in Boston Harbor...

the list continues, and the best part is, those are all things I've just done in the last year.

Sometimes I need to be reminded to stop and smell the roses - I've managed to do everything I set out to in my lifetime, and I'm thankful to have the willpower to stick to my guns. But the flip side of that coin, is that the yearning for newness never fades - from each adventure is born a new one, with each conquest comes a new goal set, and with each endeavor embarked on a new mission is unraveled. I have never been able to sit back and relish in my accomplishment, my success is felt in just a fleeting moment and then my mind quickly wanders to..what next?

Well-- here's what's next for me for the next few months - and don't dare me to add anything to this list because I will, whether I want to or not (it's just too hard to say no for fear of missing out on an incredible experience):
-Flying a plane in March
-Bonnaroo in June
-Warrior Dash in late June
-Teach in Vietnam in September

..and that's just a tasting of some things that are bound to be taking place amidst a peppering of other last-minute, peer-pressured or self-inflicted challenges.

So no time like the present to truly revel at the beauty in really creating our own blueprints for our own lives - it's only taken me 25 years to realize that no matter what anyone else will say to me I am the only one that's responsible for the stories I'll be telling at 80- and I want them to be good.