Hello there,
If you're life is anything like mine you know what it means to pack and unpack more than once in your life, and if it's not then you probably know what it's like to live in one place for more than just a coupe of years. Since I was a baby, I have been on the move. My parents had me at a young age and could not take care of me at first, and so they sent me to live with my grandparents in Puerto Rico. That was the beginning of what would be my life, me constantly on the move. Since that first move, I have moved more than 7 times and that number only includes the moves from one state to another. I went to 12 schools throughout my elementary, middle, and high school education and college might be heading in the same direction. I do not say all this to get attention or even for people to understand that while moving has been a blessing in my life it has been hard, but for those of you who are on the move or who have been there to know that you are not alone, that someone understands, and that it is ,in fact, a true blessing. And for those of you who have not to be grateful for the life that you have.
Moving is a cycle of hello's and goodbye's and while making friends can be hard saying goodbye is harder. It is easy to feel alone when your friends are thousands or even hundreds of miles away, but just think about how lonely you would really be if you would have never met them? People are just a plane ticket, roadtrip, or call away. You are not alone.
Don't let the lie that you are alone make you believe that you are.
Remember that new friends and even old friends are always a hello away. Goodbye doesn't have to be final. It can be more of a see you later, and it can be the start of a hello.
As a person who has been on the move for the majority of her life, I have always wondered what it would be like to live in the same house one was raised in as a kid or what it's like to have a place to call home. But I bet that those who have lived in one place for their whole lives wonder what it's like to move and start over.
We will always wonder about and crave what we don't have but that doesn't make what we don't have better than what we do have and vice versa.
Your life isn't any better or worse than the person next to you. It's just the life you've been chosen to live, and that's okay. Live it to the fullest whether you're in one place for the rest of your life or if you're in a different part of the world every now and then. No matter what, family will always be there to call home and you don't need a house to remind you of the good times whether you have a house to call home or not. And for those who wonder what it's like to move, it's probably as thrilling as I think staying in one place is but if you're really curious it's never too late to find out.
"Count your blessings" is something we've been told multiple times growing up. We hear it at church, every year on Thanksgiving, and every time we complained as a child or as an adult. I can say that I have complained to my parents and even to God about moving more times than I can count, but while hard at times moving is one of my greatest blessings.
The hardest experiences in life hold the greatest blessings.
Every single move has added something to my life and has shaped me into the person I am today. And no matter how much I crave for stability in my life, I wouldn't trade the life I have lived so far for the "picture perfect" one I make up in my head when it gets tough. Life with all its up's and down's is our greatest blessing.
The most important lesson that I have learned from my life on the move so far is to live in the present. It's so easy to go back in your mind to that place where you were most happy or to think forward to what's next or more accurately to where's next when you're just not feeling life so much, but be present. If you're going through a hard time be present and see what you can take out of it and if you happen to be living through some of the greatest moments of your life embrace every single minute of it and capture it in your head as a little reminder that happiness is out there. You just have to wait out the storm. I have said, "life is a journey full of many adventures", and I stand by that. Every adventure that we live through, good or bad, is just part of the journey God has mapped out for us.
God is a God of purpose and everything He allows us to go through is part of His master plan to prosper us, give us a future, and give us hope. Jeremiah 29:11
So take the journey no matter how many or few adventures you have to go through. I promise you won't regret it, and He promises to be there through every adventure. He's never failed me and He won't fail you.
Sincerely
A girl on the move.
P.S. See you later.
