"Your Vacation is Over...Welcome to the Real World!"

So I've noticed a few friends and social media connections posting things that make them happy with the hashtag #100happy days. As someone who has read pretty extensively about mindfulness and the law of attraction, this little phenomenon piqued my interest. This morning, I decided to see what this was all about, so I checked out the website. The timing couldn't be more perfect for me to try something like this.

As many of you know, I spent nearly 2 years living in Prague, Czech Republic (2011-2013). I earned my TEFL Certification, held down some cool jobs (guidance counselor, social media copywriter, tour guide, pub crawl guide), made a ton of friends, traveled to numerous countries, fell in love with the city, thrived on the positivity and curiosity of my expat friends, and lived a life far more exciting, stimulating, entrepreneurial and eclectic than what most twentysomethings describe the 'real world' as. I thought through living in Prague, that I somehow avoided this seemingly vacuous, soul-sucking time in the life of most twentysomethings. I was already picturing a life of constant travel, constant stimulation, constant happiness, and constant entrepreneurial success.

Why I'm doing this: After I came home from Prague, I had $210 to my name, I gave most of my clothes to goodwill so I didn't have too much luggage, no apartment, and no car. I had my childhood bedroom at my Dad's house, my laptop, a few tennis businesses that I was to join forces with, and the memories of a life that I missed and felt extremely distant from. "Your vacation is over." My brother told me. "Welcome to the real world!"

Needless to say, I felt desperate to play catch up. I figured that since I'm now living and working in the States, I need to buckle down, make up for all the fun I had abroad, make some sacrifices, figure out exactly what I want out of life, and save some money so I could start my adult life at 26.

I have a lot to be happy about and a lot to be proud of these days, but I feel like deep down, I'm still trying to mentally recover from my 2 years abroad. In my quest to follow my strengths, obtain total job satisfaction and conquer this 'real world' that I'm now experiencing, I've lost sight of the many things I should be thankful for and happy about. I'll be posting here every day for 100 days in an effort to appreciate the little things. To reveal myself to myself in a way. 

Enjoy!