I've arrived.

2013 has been such an incredible and exciting year for me as I have watched my hopes, dreams, and goals begin to form more clearly. What once was just a glimmer of a hope that God had called me to a specific creative outlet has since began to emerge more and more this year. It's exciting and terrifying and fulfilling and frustrating. In one moment I feel that sense that I am right where I belong, and yet, the next comes with feelings of frustrations as I realize that this journey is not as simple as one might hope.

I am a visual learner. Tell me how to do something, and I am lost. Show me how to do something, and I can pick it up quickly. I guess that's why I like life through a lens- capturing the world through the way I see it. So once I began to literally visualize my goals and dreams, my mentle hurtles began to seem so much less of an obstacle.

I am building something. It might be a wall, a castle, a cathedral- it doesn't really matter what it is (although in my mind it's a concrete wall lined with running vines surrounding a castle). All I know is that brick, by brick, by brick, I am building it. 

I resolve to enjoy the building. I resolve to enjoy each tiny step. 

I may only lay just one simple brick a day, and that's ok. This is not a marathon- this is a journey. One that's made to be enjoyed. 

There are pivotal moments in my mental awareness. As I sat at my mommy group one morning and dreamed, as I often do, of all the places, and things, and projects, and goals, and dreams- I suddenly stopped myself and asked "when?"-- when will you feel accomplished, Nicole? What specific point of your life will you need to reach in order to announce to yourself and the world that you've made it? When will you "arrive"?

The answer is right now. Today. In this moment. Not yesterday, not tommorow, not twenty years from now. 

I recognize where I am, where I've come from, and how I've changed. 

Today.

I've arrived.

Don't be fooled into thinking you must be more or do more to feel fulfilled.

Have you recognized how far you've come?