Six Months Later, I am living in Oklahoma City

We can agree my blog is a little dusty, I apologize, but today I have returned and it feels so right.

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Six months later, here I am living in Oklahoma City. 

When writing that blog six months ago, I would have never imagined I would be living in Oklahoma City. In fact, it was on my "no go" list. At the time I was hired you could list three locations you would not want to live. I listed, Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma... You can say I was trying to avoid the South, yet somehow here I am.

When I found out I was "requested" to go to Oklahoma to help upgrade the software to our latest version I was a little weary, to say the least. But as time went on, I realized, this is an opportunity, a chance, and an experience that will shape a part of me. If I said no it would have been a rare opportunity lost and a moment of weakness and/or fear.

If you close a door like this, to grow in a new work place, or to see a new environment, or to make new connections, or to live in new city, or whatever the case, then you are fearing something and that fear is holding you back and the doors are now shut. You have to be strong and willing to accept the fear. Realize this opportunity might have presented itself for a reason or that this fear is something you need to overcome or else you will always be where you are.

Even if I accepted the opportunity but had a negative mindset, it would have been game over since day one. When your mind sets you up to see only the negative side you are too consumed and washed up to reap the benefits. Your mind is no longer present and will unconsciously overlook every learning opportunity in the experience.

I started to realize... 

How nice it would be to get away from my site in WA, how wonderful it will be to experience better weather (It has been 60 - 70 degrees and sunny skies, since I have been here!), how exciting it will be to live in a new city, how beneficial it will be to meet a whole new crowd of coworkers that work for my company, which will only expand my connections and growth to learn, how intriguing it will be to find out what I will miss the most with this move (last move was the weather and workout routine)... the list could travel off this page...

Eventually I was more than excited. And here I am to say I am beyond grateful and relieved that I was sent to OKC. I love the coworkers, the winter weather, the city, the activities, and I love what I am doing here. I almost wish I could take this site (and the sun) and move it to WA... now that would be perfect.

But if there is anything to learn with moving, it will never be the same, you will constantly miss something, and always wish something was different. That is just how it is, with anything really. 

In all, even though I am still living out of a suitcase in a hotel, I am beyond appreciative to have taken this chance that has gifted me with a breath of fresh air and a step away from the dark days of WA winter. 

Maybe the "no go's" on my list are not so bad after all, and I should not judge a state by its location, I guess is what I would make of it... but either way, this experience is surprisingly a relief.

My dear WA coworker reminded me before I left, "it is not about the destination but the journey..."

What to come of this? 

I have learned when big opportunities present themselves, we need to personally take a moment to soak it in, weigh the logical and practical (not emotional) benefits and then commit 100%. If I look back, it has been almost a year and half since I took a "sacrifice" and let go of my dreams so that I could live them in the long run... and the best part of it all is that I am a couple pay checks shy of being student loan free. And let me tell you, it is an amazing feeling.

Cheers to us all to accepting opportunities and making them positive experiences,
DK