Take a Look in My Lens: 2013, Welcome.

Ok, so this is it.

This is me, getting back on the proverbial horse, finding my rhythm in this double-dutch game called life. I feel like I spent the entirety of last year trying to wait for some big moment in my life, some moment when everything would align, and my mind would suddenly begin to work like that of Russell Crowe's in the film A Beautiful Mind. Now, that isn't to say that I did not have a lot of fun this past year, I definitely have some very memorable moments to look back on (and some that were not so great...at all...). However, I think that in a lot of ways I was still holding myself back, too afraid of the what ifs and hypothetical possibilities to see and appreciate all that was right there waiting for me already. My goal is to change that this year.

I want 2013 to be my year of grasped opportunities and gained experiences. Now, there might be positive outcomes, and there may be some negative outcomes as well, but in the end, as long as you put yourself out there, and take a chance on yourself, can you really consider any outcome a failure? I am learning that something that I've heard many times to be true (I guess that's why I hear it so much): the only way to fail is to not try. I can say that I have spent a lot of my life "failing". I have been caught in this catch-22 for as long as I can remember, it goes something like "I am afraid to live my life to the fullest because it might get risky and I may die. However, I am afraid to die before I get to live my life to the fullest."
Seriously. How fucked up is that???

The worst thing, though, is that I bet that there are a decent amount of people who are quote unquote "living" their lives the exact same way. Kind of just floating through the world, but not really feeling like they are a part of it; just watching it like an invisible spectator. So, this year I plan to definitely take a lot more chances on myself, and hopefully be able to look back at the end of the year with a lot of satisfaction. I mean, we just survived the freakin' Mayan Apocalypse, that has to stand for something, right?

And I hope to document all those experiences here. I have a few other online presences, but this is the one that has always been my place to record my many adventures and misadventures in life, love, and any other cliche terms that i could use here, so I want to make this as accurate as possible.

So okay, here we go......

*sidenote: Shake it Out by Florence and the Machine just came on my Pandora. If that's not a sign, I dunno what is.

Some of my favorite moments of 2012: