Before any reader of this blog starts to think that I am pretty conceited, I must preface the following story that thankfully I was really young when I learned the important lesson mentioned in the title of this post.
When I was about 5 or 6, I had a silly disagreement with my younger sister Beth about whose birthday month was the beginning of the year. I was born on June 3rd, 1990 and Beth was born on January 6th, 1992. Because I was older and my life began in June, I insisted that the year started that month. Beth believed January to be the first month of the year. This became a long drawn out fight which was only stopped after we asked our mom who had the right information. To my great disappointment, my younger sister was correct.
From that moment on, I realized that what may be true for me isn’t true for the rest of the world. While I do experience the end of one full cycle around the sun every June so that is the beginning of a year in my life, everyone else does not have that situation. I can’t force anyone to think or talk the way I do about life. I can’t make anyone else live the way I want to. Every so often for a brief moment, its fun to pretend that all the world cares about what decisions or actions I take in life. But, very quickly it’s easy to remember that I am one individual person out of so many inhabiting Earth. I am no more important than someone else. I can only do my best to do good work and make an impact on my teensy tiny segment of the planet.
Another important lesson that I have taken with me since that fight, is that time is such a huge force on our lives that we have no control over. We can not slow it down or speed it up. We don’t know what will come to us in the future and we can’t change the past. It is simply important to take the moments we are given and to make the most of them. It is not always easy, but I try to focus on appreciating the experiences and opportunities that I have been given. I can be obnoxiously optimistic at times but it’s because I want to have faith that my decisions and motivations will eventually lead to success. Whether I reach my goals in a few months or a several years, I try to take my time to be aware of the importance of my journey.
I can’t believe how quickly 2016 has come and past. In several ways, it was quite a difficult year. I received a lot of rejection. I experienced disappointment from jobs, auditions, guys I was interested in, and even from some friends. I struggled with figuring out what I’ve been wanting to do next with my life and where and how I will be the happiest. While I have fallen even more in love with my favorite work out (Pure Barre), I also had trouble finding motivation to get back into running like I wanted. Also, my eating habits have been all over the place. My sleep has been incredibly wonky and I think that has lead to crazy emotions and a lot more forgetfulness.
However, despite all of those tough experiences, I did have some awesome accomplishments. I got to work on the second season of the television show, Mercy Street. At the Richmond premiere of Loving, I got to see my name for the first time in the credits of a film. I visited NYC three times and saw 3 musicals (Spring Awakening, Dear Evan Hansen, and Waitress) and one play (Blackbird). Being in NY also meant that I got to explore a city I truly love with my sister and several of my friends. I visited Colorado to see my best friend and her husband and the life they have created for themselves out there. My sisters and I split the cost of a beach house to celebrate Thanksgiving which was truly relaxing and a fun time. I finally collaborated with my friend to make a video for her Youtube channel that I am really proud of. It was a lot of hard work but I hope to do some more projects with her. I have a loving family and group of friends who have made this past year way better by simply being there for me.
Typical of optimistic me, I look forward to the coming year and have high hopes of it being wonderful. There are so many exciting things that I already know are happening in 2017. My best friend is having a baby, I will be seeing Hamilton in March, and one of my sisters is getting married. There are several plans and goals I have for myself that I hope to come to fruition if I make the right decisions. My goal by the beginning of next year, which will be in January…obviously (not June), is that I feel proud of what I will have done in the past 365 days.
every so often... 
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