Your Everyday Girl

I drove down from Quebec to B.C this year, my first ever cross country roadtrip. My sister and I made two stops in Ontario which were Sudbury and then Thunder Bay. I should know that Ontario is such a vast province considering how much our teachers would make us remember the map of Canada back in elementary, but I was still completely shocked.

Once Ontario finally ended, we continued on to Regina, Saskatchewan and a final stop in Calgary, Alberta before getting back to British Columbia.

That was a first and will DEFINITELY be a last. I’ve learned I’m not cut out for that kind of stuff, BUT I will say that in hindsight, I’m really glad we did it.

And I think that’s what life has always been like for me. I try things out and they either stick or they don’t. You give people a chance and they either stay or they won’t. You get a new job and it either works or it doesn’t.

I’ve been having this internal struggle with myself for the past few months. The word failure seems to pop up in my mind often. At first, when something doesn’t work out for me the way I had hoped, my initial reaction is that I have failed, I have lost, and I have not gained anything because that one thing didn’t work out for me. Now thankfully, our drive across Canada did work out otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this out today.

But there are plenty of opportunities, relationships, and other personal challenges that didn’t work out. Does it mean that I failed? Does it mean that I didn’t learn anything new? And that’s what happens when we think we fail, we forget that we have actually gained a new perspective, a new thought, a new path, a new appreciation of our strength and our bravery in dusting ourselves off and getting back up again.

There’s always going to be a challenge, a hurdle, or roadblock to get through because that’s life. If you can get through it then that’s amazing, but if you decide that something is not working for you, then that’s amazing too because you’ve made a decision to do something about it.

I’m not for toxic positivity, okay? If something hurts me or if I am not happy with a certain situation, then I will be in my feelings for some time. It’s inevitable, it’s how I am. And truthfully, I think we’re allowed to feel how we feel and give ourselves the space to grow from it. But once you’re ready, I believe it is truly empowering to be as positive as you can be. Not every day is perfect, but you learn to appreciate the bumpy roads (Montreal, your roads are insane!?) along with the smooth ones.

So no, I won’t be driving across the country anymore (hopefully), but every moment is a lesson to me, every challenge welcomes a new opportunity, and every new experience has a first even if it doesn’t always last.

Your everyday girl,

Sara S.