One year ago, I moved out of my parent’s house for the first time. It was a HUGE leap of faith and it has been one of the biggest life changes I have made thus far. I want to take this time to reflect on the past year and how much things can change in a year, and how much a person can change.
Making my move to Seattle was scary, stressful, and filled with many new adventures. In this past year I have seen myself grow immensely and have gained and developed my independence more than I could have imagined. Moving to a new state, not really knowing anyone and so far away from everything I knew, was like jumping into the middle of the ocean with no life vest and all I had to rely on was my strength and willingness to keep my head above water.
The majority of my life here in Seattle has been amazing in many ways. I have never really been the one to manage my money very well, but moving out on my own has forced me to manage my money and know when to splurge and when not to splurge on myself (Thank you Mama!). I have learned to balance the checkbook and make sure that my bills are paid first, buy the things that I need, like groceries or maintenance on my car, and then put money aside when I can. I have also cut spending money on food outings, this doesn’t happen as often as it did when I was living at home. Now, I tell myself “Aye comida en la casa”, just like my mother used to tell me all the time. As a result, when I do decide to go out to eat I appreciate it more. Since I have stopped buying outside food, I started cooking more. I have always been a cook, but living on my own has forced me to prepare my meals, and experiment with more recipes.
As a Latina, weekends were meant for cleaning, and just when I thought I would be able to sleep in, nope, Mama would blast Spanish music as a sign to wake up and clean! I used to despise cleaning and I knew I wouldn’t be able to relax the rest of the weekend if I didn’t get my chores done. Now, living on my own, I fully understand the pleasure of having a clean house. Although, unlike living with my Mama, I had to clean up right away and would get in trouble if I didn’t do something right away, now living on my own, I get to choose when I want to get my chores done. However, it never really lasts more than a few days. Once I start to see things accumulate, I get ancy and have to clean it. I have also noticed, living with roommates, that I CAN NOT STAND a messy kitchen. I found myself constantly cleaning the kitchen, because one of my roommates would almost never clean up after herself. So, thank you Mama for passing the OCD cleaning gene. HA!
One of my goals when I moved out here was to gain a position where I can grow and develop my career. I was giving myself one year to accomplish this goal, and luckily, I made the cutoff a few months shy of a year. I have my foot in the door with a great company and an even greater team that lets me take on tasks more than my job description. They are also very open and willing to help me grow and develop my skills and for that I am truly grateful. I have worked my butt off to get where I am and to finally see my past struggles and frustrations lead me to here, is truly so overwhelmingly humbling. Don’t know what’s to come in the future but I can say that the path looks awesome!
Overall, this past year has shown me how much I can grow and has given me the experience I needed to grow as an adult. There have been many other highlights throughout this past year, which you can read about in past posts, or just haven’t been told yet. Everything happens for a reason and I was meant to make this life change. I don’t know where this next year will take me, but I know that I am going into it head strong and open to change. Change is unnerving, but if we aren’t open to it, we may miss out on something amazing!