posted by Ashalah on Life

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Wow. Twenty-eight. That’s a number that could instill fear in me. Yet, it doesn’t.

Twenty-seven? That scared the shit out of me last year, more than any other age. I was at a place in my life where I didn’t know what I wanted. Granted I still don’t, but I’m in a much better place than I was last year. Last year, I was in a job that I desperately wanted out of, I wasn’t happy with the city I was living in and I had no idea what my future would have in store for me.

It was scary. Up until this point in my life, I had followed a set list of rules on how to live life. Go to school, get good grades, graduate, get a full time job, be a responsible adult. The problem was, this life path I had set out on wasn’t working for me. It wasn’t leading me to my happy place; instead I was in a life filled with used kleenex, a tequila habit and a deep seated hatred for my getting-worse-by-the-minute job. The fact that this life path, what I thought was how it had to be, wasn’t fulfilling me was troublesome.

I don’t know what happened but that May, that birthday month of mine where I turned 27, I turned my life upside down. I can’t pinpoint the exact date or time when I decided that I had had enough of it all and decided to shake things up, but I know that I turned 2009 from an awfully horrendous year, to a fabulous year with the click of a mouse.

27 was an amazing year. A year I found myself, that I found happiness, that I surprised everyone, including myself. I challenged myself to my deepest core, I faced my fears and I took back control over a life that had gotten way out of hand. For the first time in probably my entire life, I truly, undeniably and completely, enjoyed myself.

The defining moment of the past year was of course the Europe trip. It was filled with so many stories, so many experiences and so many people.  There were so many moments where I just knew that this was where I was meant to be at that exact moment, where everything felt right. Whether it was walking up a mountain path in Norway, sitting in cozy hostel by a fire on the Isle of Skye in Scotland chatting with new friends, lounging on the roof drinking two euro bottles of wine with a bunch of good looking Australian men, riding a camel under the stars in the Sahara, or sitting at the base of the Eiffel Tower straining my neck to get a view of it all lit up. I still can remember that butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling I got over and over again. How much in love I was with my life.

27 also brought about another life-changing moment: I decided at the spur of the moment to move to Boulder, Colorado, which you all know. I’ve been here three months and it has been an amazing, and a bit hard, three months. I came out here without so much as a single plan, just hoping that everything would fall into place.

And you know what? They did.

I have come to the conclusion that I have a lot of luck on my side, that the universe is rooting for me. I also think believing in this has lead me to lead the life I have. A very charmed one. I may not always be the luckiest girl in the world and there are aspects of my life that I wish were better (ahem. My love life.), but what it comes down to: things work out for me.

I went to Europe, by myself, and was stuck in SEVERAL sticky situations and sailed through them with more strength than I knew I had. (and a LOT of luck.)

I was able to move, broke as hell, to Boulder on an inheritance I didn’t even know existed.

I was able to go to New Orleans for the first time for my birthday trip this year, the week before I turned 28.

On my last day as a 27 year old, just as I was starting to think that things weren’t going to fall into place, I got offered, and accepted, a job that I hadn’t even applied for.

Lately I think I have forgotten just how lucky I truly am. Just how blessed my life is. I get caught up in negativity sometimes that I forget to see how great I do have it. Sure, somethings in my life aren’t perfect, but I must must MUST remember how perfect other things are. I must remember this past year and how much it changed me. I must remember all that I have learned and just how far I’ve come from last year’s miserable existence.

27 was a year of huge things, life changing things, and while I don’t know what is in store for 28, I know they will be just as great, if not better. I’m putting the negativity of the past month behind me and looking to the future with as much positivity as I can muster.

Tags: I Should Listen to This, Life Lessons, Reflection