Everyone's Doing Stuff And I'm Not

It's just been one of those weeks where I can't stop comparing my life to other people's. Comparison can be the hardest habit to break and the easiest way to bring yourself down. Even though I know it'll only make me miserable, I still notice that everyone else seems to be doing stuff with their lives and my little accomplishments pale in comparison.

I'm at that age where everyone around me is doing one of the following: getting a real world job, moving into their own apartment, getting engaged and married, having babies, or going on great big adventures across the globe. Other people are moving up with their lives while I'm still living with my parents, working a part time job that isn't making me much money, still single, and mostly friendless. The hardest part is not having friends in town to talk to or hang out with all the time. It just seems like everyone else is succeeding in life, while I'm a massive failure. I can't do anything right.

I know I'm just being whiny and need to get over this little pity party I've been throwing myself lately. Life can always, always get worse. Plus if I really take a step back and compare where I am now to where I was last year, I've made some big improvements. I have a job, it might not be full time, or exactly what I want to be doing for the rest of my life, but I do enjoy it for the most part. Plus I love the people I get to work with. My bank account might not be as big as I want it to be, but I'm able to make my loan payment each month and still have a bit to put away. Plus having my car back has been a big improvement too. And most important I've been working hard at living a happier and healthier life. It's not easy (obviously I'm struggling now to be happy about the pace of my life), but I'm always working to make little improvements throughout the day.

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I'm incredibly grateful for all that I've been blessed with and I try to keep those blessings in mind during times like this. It's just that I always thought I'd be one of those people doing something more with my life (not that there isn't time for that to happen). Ever since I was a kid, I had these big dreams of traveling, living in a different country, discovering a new culture, creating something new and exciting. I always pictured my life to be bigger than it is at this moment. I guess I'm just struggling to figure out the best way to make all of those things happen with the resources I have at my disposal.

When it comes to life, I might not be as patient as I thought I was.

-S

Birthday Photodump

Here I am another year older and still equally as bad as I was last year at scheduled blogging (whoops). My birthday was on Thursday and it was a gorgeous summer day in Northern Michigan. I couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate with family. We went wine tasting, which I've pretty much done every weekend in July so far (I'm definitely not complaining!), and ate dinner at North Peak. 

The wine tasting started off at Brengman Brother (I don't have any pictures from there), then moved on to Shady Lane Cellars, and lastly Tandem Ciders. Since we started later in the day and my brother and Katy had a concert to get to we didn't go to that many wineries, but we made them count. Despite the gorgeous tasting room, I wasn't that impressed by Brengman Borthers wines. I'm pretty sure the only wine I did like was from their sister winery in Italy. On the other hand, Shady Lane Cellars was gorgeous and the wine was tasty. I'd definitely go back there again, especially after realizing it's right off of the bike trail. 

Overall it was another wonderful birthday. I'm so thankful for my family and friends.

-S