Saying no to the american dream

To be honest with you this blog post has been brewing around inside me for a while now. I think I have always known that I wanted a different path for myself from the beginning. I have vivid memories of sitting on my window seat as a teenager dreaming up of all the places I wanted to see and explore after high school. I was never one of those people who embraced their hometown with all their heart and soul, actually I kind of envy those people who light up when they talk about where they live. That's just not me. I grew up like every typical middle class kid whose parents drilled into their heads that you need to go to college, get married, buy a house in the suburbs, and pop out some babies. Except somewhere along the way I realized that maybe I don't want the white picket fence, 2.5 kids, work the same job for the next 30 years life of my parents. Not that there is anything wrong with choosing that life, as long as you do it because it is what makes you happy. I have friends who had always dreamed of becoming mothers who love the joy of having children in their lives and then I have others who didn't plan on parenthood and don't necessarily love it. I think it is important to go after the life you want, even if it goes against the grain.

This realization has hit me strongly in the last few weeks. Looking on the outside it seems like I have am living the normal American life, I'm married, work a 9 to 5 job, and we own a house. As happy as I am with the little life my husband have created for ourselves I can't help but ask myself if I'm living it right. Yep I just quoted a John Mayer song. But it does perfectly describe how I feel at this junction of my life. In Orlando it is so common for those of us who grew up here to complain endlessly about how boring this place (the term Borelando was probably made up by a native) and discuss exit plans over drinks. I don't want to be one of those people who just lament about their dislike of their city and yet does nothing to remedy the problem. Life is too damn short for that. I want to travel and explore the world. I want to move out of the South and live somewhere with distinct seasons again. I don't want to wake up in 20 years regretting the chances I didn't take. So we have given ourselves a timeline and getting serious about taking the leap to somewhere new.