1 year later

This post is a little late coming, but better late than never, right? This past January I celebrated a year of life that I almost didn't have. For those of you who don't know, a few days before I was supposed to leave for Italy in January of 2010, my roommate took me to the hospital because I couldn't breathe. We were both sure it was some sort of panic attack that I would get a breathing treatment for and be on my merry way. Wrong. Thanks to a doctor who refused to believe that it could be anything but blood clots and would not give up until he found them, I remained in the hospital, did not board a 10 hour flight to Italy, and started the regimen of Coumadin that would heal the clots.

I promised myself then that I would truly live my life and not sit and wait for my life to start. In this past year I've made quite a few changes. I moved to Dublin, started graduate school, moved into my first apartment, and started volunteering more than working. While I'm always adding to my bucket list of things I want to do, I feel very fortunate that I'm crossing things off of that list as well. So many people develop a list of "Someday I want to do" but few people actually get around to doing these things.

So, today my post is meant to challenge you to accomplish something on your bucket list (and if you haven't made one, do that, too!) Remember that in the big picture, we are just a spec in the huge scheme of things. Our life is fleeting and too short to spend sitting around waiting for it to start. Go out and live it!

These aren't Irish quotes, but they encompasses this post well:

"Dance as if no one were watching

Sing as if no one were listening

and Live every day as if it were your last."

"It's not dress rehersal. Live the life you imagined."

"Life isn't about finding yourself. It's about creating yourself."

"Do one brave thing today. . .then run like hell." (Ok, this one might not be as inspirational, but it provides comic relief ;)