Looking ahead.
When I left Saturday morning from Portland, I had the goal to spend a significant time focusing on my career goals and making some real decisions during the time I was in Nashville. I thought a solo trip would be the perfect way to have this time – alone - to reflect. Somehow, I managed to fill my days with getting to know a city and people so much that I really didn’t get any time sit and think about anything. But I guess that’s the purpose of a true vacation.
This morning I slept in, again. My only planned activity was a food tour for three hours before I had to head to the airport for my flight. It was a small tour – just me and a couple – and though it was hot out, it was a great way to see and taste my way through Nashville’s oldest neighborhood, Germantown. It reminded me of how much I love the world of food and how well it brings people together, even when you have nothing else in common.
Directly from the food tour, I headed to the airport feeling like I probably could have stayed a little longer exploring what I found to be a very charming city. Visiting this place and meeting such interesting and cool people was such a great reminder of how big the world is, even within this country. On the flight home, I finished reading Born for This which luckily, didn’t make me want to straight up quit my day job like the last time I read a book from this author. It did make me think carefully about my next steps though and how I can strategically get to where I want to be, while still enjoying where I am right now. I think that’s what has been so hard for me recently – truly enjoying where I am in life and resisting the urge to feel like I am behind or have not accomplished enough in these 36.5 years.
Back in my twenties, when I would do these envisioning journal exercises, I was always really specific about where I was career-wise but not so much about other things like relationships, marriage, or kids. The vision I had was that I would have opened not only one, but several, dog park cafes way before I turned 30. In fact, I always wanted to be part of that “30 Under 30” list. I guess I missed that one. Still, I know I need to remind myself that all that I have done to this point will make me better equipped to start this business of mine – that I should be grateful for all of that and for the present, while looking ahead to the future. I guess, in a way, though I didn’t intentionally take time to reflect while in Nashville, I did instinctively spend my time enjoying each present moment – living in the now – which may have been the best lesson I could take away from this trip as I return to the world of setting goals and making decisions about the future.
“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
~ Steve Jobs
“Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal.”
~ Jill Conyers
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
~ Zig Ziglar
About the photo: This is from my flight home from Nashville today. I love how the sun is shining and trying to get through the dark and stormy clouds.
