Images

Uncategorized

The Best Years of Your Life

Image | Posted on by Kaylin Stravalli

There is a common lie that we as Americans, I think, buy into growing up and that I for one would like to cease and desist from spreading further. That lie is this:

High school is the best four years of your life.

May I just say, “What a total crock!” High school is by far nowhere near the best years of our lives and if they are, we’re doing something wrong. Think about it. They (whoever they are) are saying that the years 14-18 will be the highlight of our lives. That’s what they’re saying? Yep. Are they right? Hell. No.

By that logic, every year after our 18th birthday is for the birds. That means for the average 60-70 more years we live – more if we’re lucky – we will never again achieve the level of happiness we had in that four-year span. The fact that we’re going to have 6-7 decades or more of experiences, joys, and relationships doesn’t matter because they’re never going to be as great as high school.

Um…false.

In my experience of 20-some-odd years, life after high school has only improved. Now, I can’t say I was one of those people who breezed through high school without some emotional scars, nor can I say I was one that spends the rest of my life overcompensating and trying to get over the trauma of acne and dating and mean girls. No, I fall somewhere in the middle. Luckily, I experienced enough drama in those four years to learn how I deem it acceptable to treat other people – whether I like them or not – and that I am a never-ending project of improvement.

College? Now that definitely had one of the best year and a half spans of my life, but The Best? No, not the best. I will never again have that much freedom and that little responsibility (mostly financial) than I had in the years I spent in college. However, in the years since my life in formal education ended, I have experienced a new kind of freedom – one where my nights and weekends are my own and no longer dedicated to research and homework. I wouldn’t trade this newfound freedom for what I had before for anything. Okay, maybe I’d go back to undergrad for a period, but high school? Not a chance.

My point is – like Frank Sinatra sang – “The best is yet to come.” And I wonder how those who have come before us could discount the joys of having our first real love/relationship, getting engaged and married and having a family, paying off student loans, making our first big purchase as an independent adult (like a car or a house or a dog), or traveling and broadening our horizons, becoming an aunt/uncle/godparent/grandparent, or getting our first real job?
These are all supposed to pale in comparison to our senior prom? I’m sorry but no. That just cannot be true.

Uncategorized

Wanderlust

Image | Posted on by Kaylin Stravalli

Wanderlust

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had this ongoing fantasy about selling all my things of any real value (my car) – or anything that anyone would ever want to buy of mine, no matter how small, for that matter – quitting whatever job I had at the time (or if I’m working my dream job, getting them to back me and publish the book that would inevitably come out of this adventure, because this is a fantasy after all), and traveling the world. I would work when I had to, pick up random skills along the way; like bartending and waitressing, because who doesn’t like a strong drink, a sympathetic ear, and great service? Then I would move on to the next place and the next and the next until my wanderlust had calmed to a low burn and I decided I wanted to settle down a bit, maybe find someone – a male someone – to start a new adventure with and to join me in my travels.

I put a lot of hours in daydreaming about this, adding places and scenarios, then subtracting them only to see a movie or read a book or talk to someone about that place, and add it back to my ever-growing list of cities and countries and things to see and do.

Then Reality – that bitch – popped my pretty little bubble. I had student loans and bills to pay, responsibilities and people who depended on me that I couldn’t shirk. Plus, I needed a travel buddy. I have no intention of becoming the inspiration for the next Taken. There is safety in numbers and it’s honestly just more fun when I have someone to say, “Look at that!” or “Take my picture” to or to go to dinner or to an event with. A friend, a travel companion, a beautiful world to explore: What more could a girl as for, right? Maybe an endless supply of money and time to do all that traveling…just sayin’*.

As time went on and Life gave me the reality check I suppose I deserved, I realized that it truly was a fantasy. I was not – at least at this time or in the foreseeable future – going to take an indefinite amount of time to flit and gallivant around the world at my whim. Instead, my dream-filled but pragmatic mind decided to make traveling and checking places off my bucket list a priority. I would work to live (read: travel), not live to work. I would budget and save and use my “point-earning” credit card to my advantage and I would see the world one trip, one city at a time.

Step 1: A trip to Disney World for a long weekend with my designated travel buddy whose wanderlust runs just as deeply as mine.

So while my fantasy life as a nomad may not be exactly plausible, my dream to wander, to see far off places, to visit the lands of my ancestors and look for distant relatives there didn’t have to disappear with the clouds that once danced around my head. No siree! My sense of wanderlust and adventure is as keen as ever. Now, it just has its priorities, plans, and goals in place to get me from one work week to the next trip and back again.

So you see, sometimes all it takes to achieve our dreams and make our fantasies become realities is to take a step back, crunch some numbers, do some creative thinking, oh, and finding a loot to pay the way doesn’t hurt either!

*(Disclaimer: If I win the lottery or inherit millions from a long-lost relative, I’ll be gone before I can pack my bags or say ciao bella.)