I am currently in San Francisco taking a break from designing to write this first year anniversary post. I’m working at a cafe in the Mission, sitting next to a boy who I could possibly love one day. Today I care about him a lot. I’m listening to Pearl Snaps: Romanticism (mp3), a mix I made some time ago about finding love again. It was by pure coincidence that I would listen to it on Spotify today. We’ve expressed interest in working together on music stuff in the future.

So with that, I’m experiencing all of my passions—music, travel, love, design, writing—at once. I’m living them. What a way to end my 25th year. It has been a ride.

I started this blog and my 25th year heading towards the end of my first real business endeavor, in a quarter-life crisis, and in a rocky relationship. When that relationship ended in November last year, I took to the air and began to travel full time to heal my heart and strengthen myself. I broke into international traveler status by backpacking all over Costa Rica, touring all over America in my black sedan I renamed “Jenny”, I’ve ridden Amtrak trains all over the Northwest from San Francisco to Portland and Seattle to Vancouver. I’ve taken ferry rides from Vancouver to Victoria to Seattle. I’ve found the place I want to settle down in: Seattle.

I’ve restored my confidence in several areas of my life: my design abilities (securing a new client for my own design business), my singing abilities (scoring an audition for X-Factor, the singing competition television show), my dating life (having healthy dating relationships and currently seeing someone I could see myself with for a while), I’ve explored sexual and romantic abstinence, I’ve widened my comfort zones by doing something crazy every month, and all the while maintaining, returning to, loving, securing who I am despite being heartbroken, in a quarter-life crisis, unemployed, and being (intentionally) homeless.

All of this I couldn’t have done without my friends (blog, real-life, social media, all of them), my family (thanks granny, mom, and sister), the people I’ve dated and even my ex, and the higher powers out there. My guardian, my conscience, my instinct. I’ve listened to my unified Voice a lot this year and I’m happy to see that I’ve accomplished (and am still accomplishing) what I set out to do with my life: I am in unison — within, without, all parts of my being.

And now I can begin to prepare further for a year of discipline and responsibility as I travel less to tackle my college and travel debt, my health, and prepare for a future by saving and taking necessary steps to become an adoptive parent.

Cheers to self-improvement and growth.

Sometimes you have to let go of what (who and where) you think you want, to get what (who and where) you need. It’s incredibly uncomfortable, but change usually is.

Thanks again for reading.