March 16, 2010

Well well... quite a lot has happened since my last The Ride. I took a few weeks off due to internet connection issues, laziness and just a general lack of topics. But The Ride is back on track.

I feel as though everything is about to change and it's not just some niggling feeling, everything is about to change. I was commenting on how brave I thought one of my friends is. She is 30 years old and is leaving her entire life in LA and what she knows to move to London. She knows a handful of people here and has a great job, but I've really got to tip my hat to her. Not many people would have the balls to completely upheave their lives for something new and unknown. It made me realise how much I sometimes underestimate what Matt is doing for me. He is in the exact same boat. He is upheaving his entire life here in London, all of his friends and family, traditions and memories, for a new and unknown life in southern California. No matter which angle you look at that from, it takes a huge leap of faith. I guess I bring it up now as it's nice to see these big leaps of faith still being made, whether someone is leaping to a new country, a new relationship or a new life. As we get older we inevitably get more comfortable in our day to day lives and taking these leaps of faith and making huge changes becomes scarier and harder to do.
I know that I've expressed mixed feelings about the institution of marriage but like all major decisions, I think one has to take it with a huge leap of faith. My long term boyfriend, Matt, and I got engaged recently. It was one of those incredibly special moments that I actually prefer to keep more private than some of my other exploits, thus I won't be detailing it on The Ride. So not only did I turn 30, not only are we moving our lives to CA, but we are also going to be planning a wedding and wrapping our heads around spending the rest of our lives together. All making me leap with lots of faith. If I was religious at all, I am quite certain I would be praying!

But ultimately change is good. It's healthy, and staying too long in one frame of mind or one way of life can be boring and taxing. People harp on quite a lot these days about change. You have Change Managers now popping up in even small to mid sized companies and hardly a week goes by where you don't read something about embracing change. Even Obama's campaign slogan was all about change. So why is change always so hard then? Looking around at my demographic, many of have been avoiding change for as long as we possibly can. Whether we are delaying taking that next step in our relationship, or putting back having a child, or blaming our lack of career change on the economy rather than on our own fears, it's pretty clear that we are all not full of leaps and faith. I guess I could sit here and try to pontificate why but ultimately it's very personal. We usually only change when forced to and then when it does happen we are happy we did and we always say how it was "for the best".


So in 2 weeks times I'll be writing the Ride in southern California and I imagine the change that brings on will give me a slew of topics to ponder. Things like; who will I make friends with?How will I cope working with my family? How will my relationship change being in a new country and both in new jobs and surroundings? How much will I miss London and my friends? Will we be happy or happier? I have no idea and it's pretty exciting knowing that anything is possible. But I've done big changes and they've always been the best things I've ever done. Even when those first few months are the most lonely and depressing months possible (hopefully Matt and Wicklow will eradicate this this time) I know it's always for the best.

Cheers to change!