One year ago today I took a life risk. I moved to Colorado with a guy I was dating, no plan, no job lined up, no apartment, just staying at a friend’s place temporarily. Off I went to spread my wings and fly. Quickly my wings were clipped, life happened and I needed to come home. I won’t go into the details of my personal life or the details of what drove me home. However, I will say that after making my big move, driving cross country, just to return a little over a month later left me feeling like a failure. I kept faith knowing deep down that this was the right decision for me. I knew that the universe was saying “Ally I know you needed to find this out on your own but the timing is not right. Come home.” If I had stayed I would have just been trying to prove to others that I could do this despite it being wrong for me.
In this day and age people thrive on others failures. I believe this is due to either insecurity in ourselves or just plain ole ignorance. Upon coming back home I was asked numerous times what happened. When I simply said “life happened” that wasn’t enough, they wanted me to feed them with more. I got inundated with jokes about how quickly I returned. People I barely knew were commenting to me about it. Upon arrival, my boyfriend and I broke up, I had no job, barely any money, moved back home with my parents, and no clue what to do next. I felt defeated.
Like anything, life must go on. I couldn’t sit back and feel sorry for myself. I realized that the courage alone to venture out was success in itself. I took a risk and although it blew up in my face, I did not let that fear stop me. I brushed myself off and changed my attitude. I stopped letting the comments eat away at me. Just like that, a change in perspective and things were moving forward. People will hate on you no matter what you do in life. There will always be someone there telling you no, someone trying to knock you down. All the more reason to carry on with what works for you, what makes you happy. Where it can be helpful to get advice from others, at the end of the day you should go to bed at night knowing that the decisions you made held true to your morals, values, and what is best for you.
To this day I would not change my decision to go out to Colorado. I needed to know that it wasn’t the right step in life. In 30 years I won’t be wondering what if. I will have no regret. If I ever have a child, I will tell them to make mistakes and fail. It is those very failures that builds our character and leads us to better things.
Fast forward one year later. I may not have all of the answers. I may not be exactly where I want to be in life but I am well on my way. I am where I am for a reason. I am working in a marketing department, my photography career is taking off, I am sharing my passion of gymnastics with young kids. The most important thing I can say is I am truly happy. No big life change, I am still figuring it all out, but I made up my mind to be happy and that’s how I shall live.
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