Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Welcome to Grown Adult

Greetings! 

Here we are, my first post. I don’t know what Grown Adult will turn into as it grows but I know that I want it to capture the essence of my life and opinions right now. Like most people my age, or any age for that matter, I am just trying to navigate my way through; find fulfillment and happiness.

I am 28 years old. (Gasp! A woman just revealed her age!… Or does that not apply to me yet? Still too young? OK, fine.) Now, I know I’m no old lady, but I also cannot get away with calling these my ‘post-college years’ anymore either. I am expected to be on to something by now, a career, a marriage, a house, whatever. And while I have none of these, my little life has been nothing to turn your nose up at. 

Looking back over the last few years, I wasn’t struggling to support myself nor was I partying my weekends away. I had a boyfriend, a secure job, tons of friends in close proximity and a family that couldn’t be beat. I felt settled. Settled, but not necessarily living my life with purpose. So with this newfound, inflated sense of adulthood and self-awareness, I was finally able to focus on the fact that I was on the wrong track, just going through the motions, being normal, living but not really alive, blah blah blah and so on and so forth. Something had to be done. 

The more I looked inward, the more apparent it became. I had the intense urge to leave it all, venture out and follow a dream to live outside the country before I get too tied down with all of the things I had mentioned above. So, with my equal parts supportive, loving, funny and adventurous boyfriend (Tom) in tow, we packed our bags with bathing suits a-plenty and left the US for a remote beach town in the jungles of Costa Rica. 

December Sunset, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Did I just make that sound easy and quick? Well, it wasn’t. It took at least three months of heavy convincing/mind control to get my boyfriend to agree and then another eight months till I felt financially secure enough to leave my job. That’s a total of eleven months of grand announcements of leaving it all behind followed by some light planning and a roller coaster of emotions. All in the sake of personal growth, right? 

I know that any spiritual teacher reading this right now would say that I already have everything inside me to feel fulfilled and happy. I get it. But can’t I just take a looks-y inward and try to achieve those things while sitting on the beach in a remote locale? I can? Perfect! 

Playa Bongo, Costa Rica
Moving along, we are now almost three months in to our sabbatical and I’m sure some of you are wondering, maybe aloud, hopefully just to yourself, and in a nice way, nut a judgy way, “What the hell are they doing down there?” So now we get to the part where I reveal that this international jaunt isn’t just a sun-soaked road to “finding myself”. Some may know, most may not, since I don’t really like to talk about myself (yes, I realize the hypocrisy of this statement as I am currently writing about myself.) But here it is, the main purpose of this trip: I am finally writing another screenplay after a dangerously long, five-year hiatus from the craft. It was easy to write in college with grades and professors keeping me on track but not so easy once I left my Southern California film school bubble and entered into the recession heavy, job depleted, mean streets of the real world. 

Yoga Deck at Casa Toucanet, Mal Pais, Costa Rica
So to recap, I wanted to live outside the country and I wanted to be able to write without the normal life interruptions that have kept me away for too long. And guess what, it’s going pretty well. I finished my first draft in under a month and a half. I’m heavy into the second draft and although in my humble opinion it’s a piece of dribble, I think it’s got potential. But what matters most to me is that I’m doing it. I’m using my free will to follow my passion and create something and say something through entertainment that I feel needs to be said. Stepping off my high horse now…

Back to Grown Adult. This blog will not be about one subject but more about what moves me and what it’s like being in your late twenties, right here, right now. With that said, it may be all over the place. Whatever, who cares. It’s a place I can practice my craft and use my voice. 

Topics I plan to cover here are, including but not limited to: the highs and lows of life abroad (why didn’t I realize there would be centipedes and scorpions in my bed when I moved to the jungle), film and television reviews, why mashed potatoes are the best food ever, how to “have it all” Liz Lemon-style, book recommendations from an extreme book worm, braggy pictures of my life at the beach, thoughts on meditation and spirituality, exercise a.k.a. why my body refuses to even produce one ab, smoothy recipes, odes to guacamole, etc. etc. 

Like I said, it’s going to be a mixed bag. But it’s going to be my mixed bag. 

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