The Joy of Not Getting What You Want

Hey everyone, so, here’s for blog entry number one! Welcome!

In that almost none of you know who I am, I figured that I would give you some insight as to just who it is that’s writing this blog by telling you a little story about me. I’m excited, I hope you are too!

As the title suggests, this story is about not getting what you want, and that being a pretty awesome thing.

As far back as I can remember (about second grade or so) I wanted the American dream. A good job, a wife, kids, a house, stability, you know, THE American Dream. I even remember thinking to myself, at 8 years old, how awesome it was going to be to turn 18 and finally be able to achieve my goals. It was everything I thought I wanted. So, I worked hard, graduated high school at 15, had my first real job by 16, owned a brand new car by 17 and was well on my way to becoming the youngest manager in my company’s history. I was going to get what I wanted. However, life had other plans for me and it took a turn, in retrospect, for the better. I said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time and I lost my job, had to sell my car, and had to leave home rather abruptly. I was devastated, but I wasn't going to let this be the end of my dream. So I went off to college. Surely this would be a great step towards achieving my goals.

While at college I studied hard, committed myself to being the top of my class, took 21.5 units to make sure I got my degree as quickly as possible, and worked a part time job to pay off some of my student loans. I slept about 4 hours a night and worked or studied seven days a week. However, after my first semester, I realized that there was no way I could keep getting 4 hours sleep a night thanks to a very timely cold that turned into pneumonia and had me in bed for a solid two weeks. So I slowed down, out of necessity, and strangely enough, I began to enjoy college life a bit. I slept more, I took less units,

I went to work for a tree service and got paid to climb 90 foot palm trees.

I traveled to Hawaii, Scotland, England, and Amsterdam.

I ate Pizza and Sushi in the same meal.

And went white water rafting.

Among other things...

yes, that's a pumpkin I lit on fire

Through all of these experiences I learned that life is a lot more about living and a lot less about moving from one task to another. I really came to enjoy my time at college. I spent a lot of time just hanging out with friends, getting to know new people, seeing new things, and learning about the world from experience rather than just from a textbook. I didn't get what I wanted by any means, and for that, I am eternally grateful. What I wanted out of life was nowhere near as great as what I now know is out there. I came to enjoy what life gave me rather than constantly searching for that next part of my life that was sure to make it complete.

I'm still working towards my goals, but I’m a lot more excited about the experience of getting there than I am consumed with actually being there. Here’s hoping that you too will enjoy the life you get even if you’re still working toward getting what you want. 

Thanks for reading.

-Andrew Myers