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| When I found this plaque at Pecan Creek RV Park on Barton Springs in Austin when my parents came to visit in February, I laughed. Little did I know it would become my reality a few months later. |
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we're curious and our curiosity leads us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Is there anything easy about moving? The packing, (and its worse counterpart--the UNpacking) acclimating to a new place, cancelling all ties with the city, saying goodbye to friends, co-workers, colleagues who have become family, closing the chapter on years spent befriending a place where you finally found a great hairstylist, perfect nail salon, best coffeehouse, brunch spot, and place to walk your dog compounds the stress of moving to a new place where all these things are unknowns. Sure, it's easy to dwell on the negative aspect of uprooting from the familiar, but there's beauty in the unknown. I call upon one of my favorite meditations from Melody Beattie's Journey to the Heart:
There's magic in the unknown
Sometimes we're out of ideas. We think and think but nothing comes. We don't know what's next. It feels like we're at a dead end. But we're not. That void, that dreaded blank spot is a really glorious magical place.
Sometimes we have to run out of ideas before we can open up to any new ones. The reason why we can't see any further is because our ideas are limited by the past, by past experiences, by what life has been like before. Our future doesn't have to be limited by our past. Life knows that. Now we can learn it too. We're not at a dead end. We've reached a new beginning.
Now is a time of magic. Let the universe take your hand and show you things you have never seen before. Now, at last, you're open and vulnerable enough to begin. Celebrate the magic, the mystery of the unknown. Celebrate the miracles that will certainly come.
This weekend I'm packing up my apartment into a U-Haul and moving back in with my parents in DFW. I made the difficult decision to transition from the classroom to pursue industry work in PR because my personal mission no longer aligned with my position as an English teacher. I loved my kids, but I simply couldn't find the break between being the best teacher I could be for them and being the best I could be for myself. While it was a heartbreaking decision, I know that making this transition into PR in the nonprofit sector will provide the means for me to not only connect with like-minded, goal-oriented people but also to make a conscious effort to create the ever-elusive work-life balance. And I find joy in the fact that my curiosity (and courage--though this took me a while to realize) to leave my comfort zone is at the core of this move.
Having been an Austinite for about 8 years now, there's definitely a whole list of things I will miss. (I've included this at the end of this post and will probably continue to add on to it as I remember things that Austin has but DFW has not!) I can remember moving to Austin in 2006 to start undergrad at UT, moving to my first apartment right off Zilker, then on SoLa, then finally Oak Hill. I've lived all over South Austin and I don't mind being granola. Austin has the character and soul of the best friend you've had for years and no matter how much time has passed, welcomes you with open arms when your paths cross to reconnect, picking up right where you left off. Everybody in Austin is happy, even when things might not be going as well as they could be and everything is jam side down. There's no other place in Texas quite like it, and despite the fact that I've spent more time in DFW, I'll always consider myself an Austinite. Which is why I say, see you later, Austin--not goodbye quite yet.
Having been an Austinite for about 8 years now, there's definitely a whole list of things I will miss. (I've included this at the end of this post and will probably continue to add on to it as I remember things that Austin has but DFW has not!) I can remember moving to Austin in 2006 to start undergrad at UT, moving to my first apartment right off Zilker, then on SoLa, then finally Oak Hill. I've lived all over South Austin and I don't mind being granola. Austin has the character and soul of the best friend you've had for years and no matter how much time has passed, welcomes you with open arms when your paths cross to reconnect, picking up right where you left off. Everybody in Austin is happy, even when things might not be going as well as they could be and everything is jam side down. There's no other place in Texas quite like it, and despite the fact that I've spent more time in DFW, I'll always consider myself an Austinite. Which is why I say, see you later, Austin--not goodbye quite yet.
BB's Essential Go-to Austin
- Best Coffeeshop
- Dominican Joe's
- Caffe Medici
- Mozart's
- Best Dogpark
- Zilker Park
- Butler Park
- Shoal Creek Trail
- Best Bookstore(s)
- BookPeople
- South Congress Books
- Best Hair Salon
- Maximum FX Salon Escarpment
- Favorite SoCo Spots
- Jo's Coffee (for writing and people watching)
- Snackbox (get the Vermicelli bowl)
- Hopdoddy (best burgers)
- Homeslice (yummy pizza)
- Magnolia Cafe (best for anything, anytime--pancakes the size of your face)
- Best Brunch
- Iron Cactus Sunday Brunch
- Best Workout Spot
- barre3
- black swan yoga
- Best Smoothie
- Juice Land (formerly Daily Juice)
- Best Tex-Mex
- Maudie's
- Best Sushi
- Piranha's
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