“O pure people who wander the world, amazed by the idols you see, what you are searching for out there, if you look within, you yourself are it.” – Rumi

I bought a pocket book of poetry during one of my many trips recently, and stumbled across this poem from Rumi – one of my favorite poets. I was traveling for work, and the wifi on the plane wasn’t working, which gave me a full, uninterrupted hour and a half to dive into some poems (frustrating at the time, but a blessing in disguise!). This poem immediately stuck out to me, and gave me the reminder that I needed – while also acknowledging, much more eloquently than I could have, how I’ve been feeling more and more these days.

While I don’t want to admit it, I totally seek external validation (like most of us, right?!), and often feel like I don’t have enough – or even worse, I’m not enough. It’s hard working in social media, constantly being distracted/enamored with latest thing, and then spending my free time on nights and weekends blogging about even more things. And to be honest, the older I get the more I realize that these things aren’t at all what’s important in life – it’s about spending time with those you love, and realizing that you are enough.

I think this realization has been even more prevalent since my boyfriend moved across the county a few months ago, and slowly many of my friends are moving out of the city – or about to move in the next few months. I’ve been more hyper focused on spending time with people I love, whether it’s a drink after work, planning dinner dates (and making sure I actually leave the office at a reasonable time!), and spending my money on flights to visit Tom in San Francisco. While it deeply hurts my soul (or at least bank account) to spend a huge chunk of change to fly across the country, there’s nothing better than feeling like you’re home – even if that home is just a person and not so much a place. And beyond finding joy in friendships and relationships,  I’ve been finding more peace in being by myself since many of “my people” have moved away – and taking care of myself in the ways I need it – and realize I’m enough just being myself. I’ve been working out, cleaning my apartment as opposed to let it become a wild tornado (oops!), and enjoying the calm of being alone – something I honestly used to fear more than anything else. Sleeping alone was terrifying, living by myself felt overwhelming, and dealing with the anxiety of doing things by myself was just too much. Turns out what when you face your fears and put yourself out there, things aren’t quite as bad as you make them out to be.

When it comes down to it, it’s not about the shiny things that distract you – it’s about being with the people you love, and loving yourself first and foremost. And I’ve been a little disenchanted about being a blogger recently because I haven’t wanted to really buy anything – or tell anyone else to buy anything either. You don’t need it, honestly, you just need to go on and love yourself and be with the people you love at the end of the day. If you need to buy yourself some new shoes though to show yourself some love – no judgement here! Go on with your bad self, but I’m taking a little break from buying things and focusing on being happy with what I’ve got – or happy with the people I love if it’s not quite so cheap to find them these days 😉

OKAY OKAY OKAY, END RANT. We made it to the weekend, YAY!!! Speaking of people I love, my #1’s OG’s (aka mom and dad) are coming to save the day and visit me this weekend. I’ve been overwhelmed with work and missing my family, so they came up to visit me and explore the city for the weekend. My mom even volunteered to help me clean out my closet (purging your life = more happiness, right?) so I’ll definitely be putting her tiny lady self to work. I’m so lucky to have them in my life, and they always come in clutch when I need them the most. Those are the best people, right?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with all your favorite people and experiences over things. Happy Friday – you deserve all the happiness this weekend! xx