Letting Go

I came across this quote, and seeing it made me freeze in my tracks:

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." ~ Joseph Campbell"

Wow. Isn't that something? Just yesterday, I was sitting at a restaurant with my husband talking about my days in college. Yes, I fell into the "I'm-21-let's-party" phase. I used to look back at the opportunity that I wasted with regret. It wasn't until my senior year that I finally snapped back into reality, started going to class, and worked my behind off to pull up my GPA. I was proud of my graduation, but then I was disappointed in everything I wasted. However, I learned so much from those mistakes. I learned what was important to me, developed responsibility, and a determination to succeed.

Flashing forward 7 years later, and I fell off the career path again. I didn't even work in the field of my degree, and wasted my college education on an office management job, not the big Public Relations Director I so desperately wanted to be. That was another way I looked back with regret. However, it was while working in my corporate job that I realized this "office setting" wasn't me. I wanted to work in art, be creative, and express myself beyond letter writing. I wasn't going to find this creative expression in PR either.

It's interesting how you sit at graduation time and predict what the future will hold for you. I always looked back at myself in that moment as, "I really messed up my career/life plan." But I didn't. I'm learning to let go at what I expected my life to be, and looking forward to what my life will be.
I have so much opportunity in front of me...

I'm letting go.