#8 Chicago, IL
"If you're always planning for the future, you won't be present when it comes."
I am amazed at the changes in myself over the last 6 years. The person I was when I left home and the person I am today, are two completely different people. While my body lives in the same place, my soul is scattered.
This December was the first time I had been home in a year. Years before this, I would make it appoint to go home every 4 months or so. I never missed Thanksgiving, a weekend in the summer time, and usually would take off work for the entire week of Christmas to spend with my family.
This morning as I was helping one of my best friends Mom's get flowers together for the Christmas party tonight. I realized, never in my life have I been more at home than where I am now.
Sometimes, it is easy for us to feel like we don't belong somewhere. It is extremely easy to forget just how blessed we are by our lives. I have family in two completely different places, one biological and one non-biological, that love me the same.
It isn't a testimony that my hometown wasn't for me. It shaped me, developed me, and ultimately prepared me for this phase of my life. But, what it is a testimony to is that home isn't a place, it is more of a state of mind.
What I know is that regardless of how at home I feel. Every situation requires me to be present. 100% there, with the people I am surrounded by.
This isn't always easy. Holidays, in general, can be difficult. It is easy to find yourself at a place of longing, whether it is for yourself or for your family.
And when the tough conversations come up, because they will. It is so simple to do 2 things. One, blow it way our of proportion or two, completely tune it out. I am challenging you to do neither this Christmas.
Here is what you have to remember, everyone is fighting their own battles. Rather than doing your best to change them and force them into the person you wish they were. Embrace them for the phase of life they are in, because they may never be in this phase again.
Finish the tough conversations, here people out, listen to what they have to say, and at the end of the day, if you still don't agree. It is okay. It isn't our job to all think the same way. Our only job is to understand that we won't.
We are so good at preparing to live. But not so great at actually living. We are always willing to sacrifice our time for a degree, a job, anything that provides us with the next best thing. Often forgetting that the biggest sacrifice we can make to ourselves is to be present in the only thing that is guaranteed, this moment.
