The Turning Point

It was August of 2017, I had just turned twenty-four, and I was on my way to Las Vegas. Now, I know what you're thinking, but this isn't a story about a wild and crazy weekend in "sin city." This is about the calm before the storm, the peaceful beginnings to the complete upheaval of my life, and the events that would eventually change my life forever.

I was on my way to a business conference to learn more about a company that I would join soon after returning from my trip. Staring out the airplane window, I looked down upon the rolling clouds beneath us, glowing with orange and gold as the sun reflected off of them. It was a beautiful sight: bits of green and brown peeked through the clouds from time to time as we flew east over the face of the earth. I remember feeling at peace upon soaking in the beauty and wonder of our world, and I sighed. I thought to myself...

I feel so at peace... I really feel like life is finally falling into place for me. There must be a point in everyone's life where they feel like this. That things just fit. I guess it took me turning 24 to get to here, but things are really clicking for me now...

That was my first "turning point."

It was one of those flashbulb memories: a memory that is created through the vivid details surrounding an event. These kind of memories stand out among the others like a snapshot or photograph because of all the emotions (good or bad) that are associated with it. So here I was in my flashbulb memory, and I felt sure of it.

Now I don't know if it was the lack of sleep (due to our early morning flight) that made me delusional, or the fact that we were 39,000 feet in the air, but as complete as my life seemed in the moment, I was not prepared for how crazy it was about to become.

But the crazy didn't come all at once because it never does. It slowly builds like the "clean" laundry that piles up on the chair in the corner of your room. You're not really sure what is clean and what is dirty, but if it doesn't make it to the floor or the hamper, then it's probably okay to wear again... or maybe not. Well, that was my life. A pile of "clean" mixed with "dirty", negative mixed with positive, motivated mixed with lazy, and everything in between. Because, you see, I thought I knew how my life was going to pan out when I got back from this business trip. The path was clear—or at least I thought it was (isn't that always the way?).

I started off with so much motivation when I returned to Nashville. I was around so many passionate people from the business conference and that energy was contagious. I began planning for my future, started with the company part time (the one I traveled to Vegas for), took my health more seriously, took risks with my music career, put myself together and charted out a plan for my life here, in Nashville. Now, since I apparently had life "figured out" and things were going well in every other area of my life, I had the grand idea to quit my job of nearly two and a half years—a job that was steady: steady pay, steady hours, reliable and safe. I didn't really have a back up plan, but never the less, I thought it was a good idea.

So just like that, come October first, I put in my two weeks notice. I didn't have another job lined up and, to be honest, I didn't really have much money saved in the bank either. But I was determined to make it work and besides, I had a plan!! (Insert eye roll here.)

Well, that plan was about to be turned completely upside down and inside out and all it took was one pivotal moment, another "turning point," if you will. Once my two week notice was up, I traveled to Fort Collins, Colorado for my annual visit to see my brother. This was my fourth trip out that way and I was not expecting to fall completely in love with the city in the way I did. All of a sudden, all the plans I had made for my life back in Nashville were obsolete. It was the same kind of feeling as when you fall in love with someone: it takes you by surprise, everything is rosy and wonderful, and you would do anything for that person. Well, at this point I would have done anything to live in Colorado. To me, the people were wonderful and positive, the culture was rich, the food was so delicious, and the landscape was breathtaking.

Suddenly, being in Fort Collins, I realized how stagnant I felt living in Nashville. I grew up in Nashville and while a part of me will always love it and call it home, I was becoming more and more restless in a city that I felt I no longer belonged in. There is something so exciting about uprooting your life and living somewhere completely unknown for the first time and, as many times as I have moved around the Nashville area, I have never truly experienced a brand new place on my own.

Upon returning to Nashville, I began planning my trip to Colorado. I was planning a trip that had no definite departure date, but I was just so caught up in the excitement of my future in FoCo (Fort Collins). I have been mentally preparing myself for this moment, so that when it was physically time to go, and when everything finally fell into place, my mind and soul would rise with me and rejoice at the fact that I was finally picking up my roots and planting myself in new, fresh soil.

So now, here I am planning the move of a lifetime. I've been downsizing (to almost minimalist ways), packing, selling, boxing things up and getting the logistics of my life squared away (I'm both surprised and proud that my all of my belongings—my whole life—can fit in a small moving truck). I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to make it happen, but most of this journey has been that way: flying by the seat of my pants. In fact, most of life is that way, but that's what makes it fun right? Things like this seldom happen smoothly and my guess is that it will all come together as it's supposed to, at the last minute. (:

Waiting three weeks to move seems like forever, and if I could, I'd be in Colorado already because I feel as if my heart is already there. One day, I may return to my home town and feel at peace here once again. But for now, I will follow my wandering spirit and the call of adventure and take a leap of faith. It may not be what I wanted it to be. It may be a terrible decision. Or, it might be the best thing that's ever happened to me. But for where I stand in my life right now, I'd rather try and fail knowing that I took every measure to make it work rather than let fear get in the way and never know of the immense potential my life could have held in the midst of a new experience.

Look out Colorado... I'm coming for you.

Love & good vibes. (:

xo,

Elizabeth