Enjoying Your Mistakes

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” 
          -Albert Einstein

Hey Kiddos!
Two years ago today, I made a mistake. I ended up dating Joe Schmoe and, well, most of you should know the rest. I won't lie to my avid readers, it was really difficult. I watched lots of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to try and fill the emptiness in my life. For a while, this blog and good TV shows were just about all I had (aside from a surprisingly well-paying call center job). But, guys, I have something really cool to tell you about heartbreak. What I didn't realize at the beginning of the Summer was how beautiful my life would become. All of this started with a heartbreak.

People, in my own opinion, take for granted the fact that our mistakes set us on a path. For example, two years ago, I had no plans of going to college. I burned my name as Mrs. Potts (or, as some people called me, a door mat). I was incomplete and wanted to fulfill that by dating...let's face it...the biggest douche bag in Colorado. It was a temporary fix to combat loneliness. Something that my readers don't know is that, before Joe, I had a "one that got away". He couldn't decide if he wanted to be with me or not, so I set the past on fire and decided to be with someone new. Why I tell this to you is because it's very important to remember that everything, even heartbreak, has an expiration date.

So, yes, I made a mistake. I dated the wrong guy. I'm so glad I did. Had it not been for Joe, I would have never applied for college. My application to college was a spur-of-the-moment decision brought on by Joe moving out. I decided that I needed a bigger change than my hair color. And, as I'm sure I have stated a few times before, I got accepted the day after I found out that he was cheating on me. This is the most obvious way that my mistake changed my life for the better, but there are more. Because of that relationship, I learned the value of loyalty and arguing in a way that is still loving.

Right now, in this moment, life is beautiful. I just had lunch with my boyfriend, who adores me more than anything. I'm sitting on my college campus, typing this post and listening to Laura Marling (one of my idols). I am surrounded by people who think I'm just great. Getting to this point was not at all easy. I've been through so much and I've had people tell me that I have the sadness of a thousand years on my shoulders, but every mistake and misfortune are fantastic because it got me to this very moment of clarity and bliss.

Sometimes, I am so terrified that I will make the same mistakes in my current relationship as in my past. But today, I see that I am learning from my mistakes and know not to make those again.The mistakes I have yet to make are mistakes I have never made before. And I cannot wait to make those mistakes to learn more and see who I will become.

Until Next Time,

Alaska