what am i doing?

I feel like my life is scattered at the moment, as in things are all over the place and I don't really know what I am doing. I keep telling myself the next 11 months don't really matter because I'm just truckin' it along, finishing my master's, and getting ready for the next step. Somehow things will fall into place, they always do. It's actually pretty amusing that when I look back on everything all the worrying I did was unnecessary.  Next year at this time I will either be preparing for my doctorate or in the real world with a job. I really enjoy not knowing where I am going to be or what I am going to be doing, I just hope it's a big change. I'm ready for something new.

I've had too much time to think recently, which has continued the cycle of me overanalyzing myself.  Since I've moved to Cleveland I've changed. I'm not sure if it's the independence or the social work, but something has caused me to grow up and really get to know myself.  I've realized that I've become a pretty nice person, which would be a good thing, if it didn't mean I let people walk all over me.  I think I'm scared of conflict, scared of rejection from people, so I hold back a lot of what I am thinking and feeling.  I'm allowing people to say things to me and I just brush it off, which I find a lot easier than starting a pointless argument.  

I read  "A New Earth" as suggested and I thought 75% of it was bs. It got to the point where I was just reading it to get through it, but once in a while I would stumble across something that I really did enjoy.  If I got anything from reading it it was that you have to live in the moment and understand that only you can control your actions.  Everyone around you is doing something different and you're not always going to like it, but you have the choice to decide how to handle that.  I could spend my time being mad, resenting people for things, and overanalyzing situations, or I could step back, decide what options I have, and choose what is best for me. 

I've also realized that I have put a huge wall around myself and I'm not allowing anyone in.  There are very few people that I open up to and even my closest friends I hold a lot of things back from. I guess it's because I don't want to get criticized for my choices and I don't want to be lectured. I'm old enough to make my own decisions and live with those consequences. 

Another thing I realized is that I complain about not being able to meet a guy in Cleveland, however whenever I'm visiting friends for a weekend I meet someone I could really like. Or I find a guy in Cleveland who just so happens to live in a city hundreds of miles away.  I'm pretty sure I am doing this because I don't want to meet anyone that I can like. First, I'm moving in less than a year, so I don't want to start a relationship and then pack up and leave right when things get serious.  Also, I don't want to subject myself to the chance of getting hurt. Finally when the wounds are almost mended, I don't want to open them back up.

I'm pretty sure some of the choices I am making right now I am going to kick myself for later, but I'm just going with it. Not questioning it, not overanalyzing it, not wondering why it is happening and if there are deeper meanings underneath. I'm just hoping it can stay this way and not get complicated. 

You can't get hurt if you don't put feelings into it, right?

sunday nights alone

Have you ever had a feeling that you can't put into words? It fills your head and your heart it consumes you, yet you don't know what to do with it.

The way things work out in my life are somewhat humorous. Just when I think I have things together something I would never expect happens. And here I am, this thought on my mind, no idea what to do with it. Do I take the risk and open myself up to figure out what exactly it is that I am feeling? Or is this beating a dead horse? I mean, I don't know how many times I can set myself up to get hurt and say it will be different when it never is, but I just have this feeling. Like it's the right thing to do. In all the fucked-up-ness this is right, whatever it is. And no one else gets it. But we do. 

I guess just writing that made me feel a little bit better. I need to write more, really write. And I need to find some things to be passionate about. Somehow searching for doctoral programs and studying for the GRE are not my forte. But I've developed a new love of the gym to get negative energy out. I'm just ready for August and being able to do something I really care about.  Summer and all this free time just give me way too much time to think.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with my life at all, yet I always find something to worry about. It's like I can't allow myself to be truly happy and I don't know why.

screwed

If you haven't seen Sex & the City and you don't want the ending ruined, don't read this.

I've recently had the chance to hang out with friends from different points in my life all within a very close time frame.  One of the things that this has helped me realize is how much I have changed and how people's perspectives of me, especially how I was 5 or 6 years ago, have completely changed. One of my friends from high school had a bridal shower this past weekend and all of our high school friends got back together. We were talking about who would be the next to be married, who would be the first to have kids, who would be what kind of mom, etc. I fell into the category of a mom would would throw her kids onto someone else and my life would be a complete mess. I don't blame my friends for saying this, because in high school that is definitely who I would have been. The sad thing is, I think my friends still think of me this way because they don't know who I am anymore. But then it makes me think that most people in my life don't really know who I am.

I'm coming to a point in my life where there is so much going on. I feel like I'm about to have a quarter-life crisis making decision that are going to affect where I end up spending a significant portion of my life at. I've been really lucky that all the major life choices I have made have been successful, but it leaves me thinking that I could have missed out on something. I guess you can't really spend time thinking about "what ifs" because it would consume your life, but a part of me can't handle it.

Sex & the City is successful, in my opinion, because a lot of girls feel like they can relate to the characters. These four women are designed to represent the four different types of personalities women have, especially when in relationships.  While I love the show and I loved the movie, I think the ending was bullshit. When people in the theatre were clapping I wanted to get up and leave.  I'm going to sound like an extreme feminist right now which is not my intent, but I don't believe that if a guy leaves you at the altar, after fucking you over several times in the past, you should take him back. But since everyone in the world enjoyed this ending but me, it makes me contemplate.

Maybe every person really does have one person that truly understands them and they feel like they are meant to be with, no matter how bad they screw them over.  It's like yeah, you ruined my life, but I'd rather be miserable with you, than miserable knowing that it is over and you are no longer a part of my life.  It's like the end of a breakup, when you make the list of pros and cons of the person, and since you just broke up the cons are much longer, but you look at the pros and then rip up the list and wish that you were still with the person. 

How do you know when things have gone too far? 

Personally, I've adapted this new thing of pointing out the flaws of every single guy that I meet and rationalizing that I shouldn't be with them because of those flaws. Not to say that there is a perfect guy, but the type of guy I want to be with doesn't exist. I don't have very high expectations, I'm just annoyed easily. 

I still am at a point in my life where I don't want to fall in love, I just want to be around someone who understands me. Unfortunately, based on my history, that person will screw me over.

ramblings

I haven't written in a while for a few reasons. Mainly because an uncanny number of people have told me they read this and really enjoy the honesty in it, which scares the hell out of me because I don't want to be judged. I want my experiences to help others adjust to theirs, but when that means criticism is involved it takes on an entire new level and meaning. I'm not good with vulernability, big surprise.

The last month of my life has been an overwhelming mix of emotions. Ups and down like most go through, but for some reason, I can't put all of the feelings I've experienced into words. So, hopefully the bottle of margarita I just killed can do something for me.

It's offically summer and I am offically half way done with my Master's. I survived and along the way met some amazing people and did some things I never thought I'd have the balls to do. I stepped out of my comfort zone which is a huge obstacle for me. Surprisingly it has led me to good things. I feel like I'm finally fitting into my life. I like living in Cleveland, I love the people I have surrounded myself with, and overall I have just been happy.

Recently, a new motto was adapted: "Live life." Simple and some may even call it cliche, but if you think about it, it's true. To me, living life means doing things that are in the back of my head but I never do them. Walking up to the cute stranger at the bar and starting a conversation, pushing yourself at the gym even though you want to go across the street to Taco Bell, sending an anonymous package to a friend because you know it will make their week.

Sometimes I don't understand humanity. I mean, we've done all of these amazing things over time, we are obviously creative and inventing and loving, so why don't we spread it more? I just wish more people did the little things, that take minimal effort but mean the world to someone else. Displacing love wherever we can put it and hoping it comes back to us one day.

I've already mentioned alcohol and Taco Bell, my two weaknesses, but here are some more truths about me. I'm one of the most sarcastic people you will ever meet. I turn most phrases into sexual enuendos and am the first to make fun of myself so others can't. I so desperatley want to change the world, to make it a better place, but I don't have the power to do it. I want to make people happy, literally, I would be okay living a mediocre life if it meant everyone I knew was completely and utterly happy. I've made some shitty choices in my past, done some things that make me repulsed by my own self, but they have taught me life lesson. Who I want to be, who I want to surround myself with, and most importantly that live is an inevitable series of events that we make the most of.

I hope that by writing, by devoting my life to social work, that by smiling at the stranger on the street, that somewhere down the line I will affect someone. We spend too much time focusing on the negative and judging the people we don't know, when there is so much good right before us. Take advantage of it, do something out of the ordinary, and I promise, it will pay off with due time.

Can the past be the future?

You know the scene in the movie where the guy and girl miss each other by a few seconds and it irritates you just watching it? Well, I saw someone the other day, for the first time in a long time, and I'm still deciding if it would have been better if we would have missed each other instead of the perfect timing.

I'm not even sure if they saw me, and if they did, they ignored me. However, I didn't make an effort either. I actually stood there, in the middle of the sidewalk, like an idiot, feeling like I was going to throw up, and run across the street to them at the same time. But I kept looking forward and walked away. It's one of those scene that you picture happening and when it does you completely blank. And since I overanalyze everything, I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and like situations.

When you see a person for the first time in a while the emotions are so mixed. If I am dating someone and I haven't seen them in a while I get really really nervous and have to let myself adjust back to the familiar feelings. This time in particular I realized that I am living my life, completely separate from this person who use to be a huge part of my life and so much has changed. It's like you are living in this world with other people, but you really have no idea what is going on with them anymore; it's just all, foreign. It really made me stop and consider all that has happened to me and where my life is going. It is like you are exisiting in the same place as them, but you're no longer existing together.

After visiting an ex this weekend I am beginning to think I have relationship issues. Okay, I know I have relationship issues, but I have more than I thought. For some reason, I spend time deciding if I want to go back to ex's, instead of realizing that ended for a distinct reason and I should find someone new. But the thing with ex's is when you see them you get that rush of all the old feelings, and it feels so right, and the idea of being loved and wanted is so appealing you want to get back together. Maybe this is just me, but I'm known for dating the same people, over and over, and I can't explain it. I think I tend to forget all the bad, and remember all the good, and I want it back. The point is, do you indulge in those feelings and rekindle the flame, or wait for someone new to come along? How do you know if the past is suppose to stay in the past, or if they are your future as well?

I think this only makes sense in my head and it is frustrating.

On a sidenote, I think missing people is the worst feeling, and I wish when someone missed someone they called them, or sent them a message, letting them know they were thinking about them. Wouldn't that make the world a better place? Knowing that people still think and care about you. I wish people had enough balls to suck it up and just go for it, just say what you think and feel.

I want to be done overanalyzing and just have something happen. Something. Anything.

a breakable matter

I've had a lot on my mind lately and no real outlet to put it so bear with me, my mid-life crisis continues.

I hate being such an analytical and reflective person sometimes, but I am, so I get through it somehow. In the big picture, my life is pretty good as I believe a lot of people's are, even if they don't realize it. When we don't have something we constantly have that reminder of the abscense of whatever that thing is, when in fact we are surrounded by so much that we take for granted.

I think I've made it pretty clear that I have a lot of friends that I keep in touch with because my friends are my life. I thrive on socialization. I have the days where I need my alone time, but 90% of the time I want to be surrounded by people. I'm so interested in the way people think and interact it just consumes me. I keep these relationships close to my heart because I depend on these people, even though most of them don't know it. It's the small things, you know? They make you feel loved, even if we don't want to admit we need it.

My latest reflection revolves around intimate relationships. In the past I've been known for my relationships, moreso, for always being involved in a relationship. I can't really explain why this has been the pattern in my life, but the best solution I can come up with is that I have always had a need for being close to someone. The idea of being as intact with another human being as possible is so appealing to me. Consuming myself in another person might be my way of staying away from the issues I have with myself. I'm not sure about this theory yet. So I made myself a promise; a promise not too many people knew about.

When I became single, I told myself I had to remain single for an entire year. This started through a very psychosocialemotional conversation that I had with a professional about where my life was going. In order to completely rid myself of the past, I had to take an entire year off to focus on myself. In short, this has been difficult. Not in the sense that I wanted to have a relationship with any said person this past year, but my extreme need for that closeness on a different level with another person. That inimate, giving of oneself to another. But now that the year is almost up, I've learned the type of person I want to be with.

The hopeless thing is, I don't see that person coming into my life anytime soon. I have this vision of where I need to be in my life to have a stable relationship, and unfortunatley that does not reside in Cleveland, Ohio while I am getting my Master's. As unrealistic as it sounds, I know that the person I want to be with isn't here, so I have to accept that my vow is going to be longer than anticipated.

In actuality, it just sucks, it really sucks. All I want right now is a good conversation with a person of the opposite sex. Unfortunatley, every male I meet in this city is a complete waste of my time, and I have figured that out in the first 7 minutes of talking to them. I didn't come to this city searching for a relationship, but it would be nice to have someone to have that human contact with. Just someone to lay around with, joke, have good conversation, and possibly nap with in my bed, because I finally have a huge bed, and I don't take up the entire thing by myself.

There's a lot more I have to say, but I am taking a risk in thinking Amsterdam will inspire me and I will come back with some amazing phenomenon to discuss. Until then, I'm relying on these two lyrics.

I've been learning to live without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning them again
I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore
"Heart of the Matter" - India Arie


Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?
Just a cage of rib bones and other various parts.
So it's fairly simple to cut right through the mess,
And to stop the muscle that makes us confess.
And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
"Breakable" - Ingrid Michaelson

time for some changes

I came to a harsh reality last night as I was driving 3.5 hours back from UD, hungover, with all the windows down in 35 degree weather. I've been letting myself get caught up in the idea of something that is no longer there. There was a period in my life where I was so unbelievably happy, I would wake up in the morning and think "Wow, I love being me." And I meant it. It's not often where you are satisfied with all the decisions that have taken you to the spot where you are at. And I haven't felt that in a really long time. I keep thinking I am going to wake up and one day everything is just going to fall perfectly back into that place; and it's not.

Some of those people and places and things are no longer in my life, and as much as I wish my life was like a movie, they aren't going to magically appear at my door and make me feel whole again. There comes a time when you just have to move on, completely from a life that you were so comfortable in, and make yourself a new life.

I've realized how much my life had changed in the last 9 months; I mean truly reflected on it. I'm doing all of these things I never thought I would be doing, and all I am focusing on is May 2009, when I will move to a new city and my life will begin all over again. Well, for the next 15 months I can't live in this fantasy would I've build to keep me protected.

Some changes are going to be made. I'm going to take some serious leaps in the next few weeks, and I can only hope for the best. But if I don't try, then I will never know.