Emerging From the Fog.

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. 
It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” 
― Albert Einstein

For the past ten months or so, my husband Tim and I have been emerging from what I'm now calling the "Mid-Twenties Fog." Looking back, it's as though the past three years were a party we threw to forget that we are growing older. While going through growing pains and loss, we made irresponsible choices, or sometimes just ignored the tough stuff completely. We turned up the music and danced faster, ignoring adulthood and the doom it would undoubtedly bring. And ignorance was certainly bliss—for a while.

Now that the bumping base has been turned down, the smoke has cleared, and the guests have gone home, we have awoken from our ego-medicated dreams to the reality of the life we have: debt, bad spending habits, and jobs that leave us unsatisfied. We are looking deeply at our lives and find ourselves on the same page. We are agreed in our spirits that it's finally time to get real and grow up.

Don't get me wrong, I am certainly aware of every single blessing: wonderful family, friends, food to eat, and an apartment that we have made our home. My creativity is thriving. I am healthy. I have a great dog. The list goes on. I will say one thing about a spiritual journey: it will teach you gratitude. Joy and gratitude go hand in hand—I've found it's impossible to feel one without the other. When one fully allows herself to appreciate the abundance that already surrounds her, joy multiplies and the universe always brings more.

This newfound awareness of the value of what one already has does come with a flip side: "I want more. I deserve the best life possible for me here on this earth." After all, if we're not at our best, how can we ever expect to give our best to others?

So here we are, ready and willing for change. And we're not playing around here. I find myself now addicted to money-saving and thrift blogs, pouring over their contents for ways to cut our expenses. My husband is venturing into the foreign world of car mechanics. We are leaving no stone unturned; there is no idea we won't listen to, no book we won't read, no method we won't try. We are looking for ways to simplify and add joy. Bottom line.

And the results so far? Abundance and blessings are falling in waves. I recently accepted a new teaching and directing position at a local children's theatre, which will certainly add to our monthly income. I'm auditioning like crazy. We are looking at houses.

And, oh yeah...
Yesterday we brought this guy home to join our family:

World, meet Bandit!
Changes, indeed. :)

xo, morgan