So many "feels"

(In retro fashion to my older posts, I was listening to Straight No Chaser's cover of "Fix You" by Coldplay *or the original if you want* and would recommend it for maximum understanding of the "feels" in this post)

So many "feels" lately...I could sit here and say the same thing that I always do; "life is busy"...but everyone knows that! It's no surprise to anyone. I'm turning 29 in a month, life had better be busy or else I should probably check my pulse to make sure that I'm still here. Things don't slow down, especially at this point in a person's life. This is when life kicks it up and demands that you actually pay attention to more than your Facebook news feed. You're running, you're working, you're sweating, straining, getting knocked down, getting tossed around, tested, tested, and tested even more. Not just by your job but your family, your friends, your relationships, and your surroundings day in and day out. These things are no surprise to me. My world has been a constant whirlwind of emotionally charged changes ripping at every corner of my being, pulling me one way and then another leaving me tired, drained, and most of all, looking for answers...but if there's one thing that I've learned over the past couple of months it's this: Sometimes the answers aren't the most important part of the equation. It's the questions we're asking. Not literal questions, but the questions that we ask ourselves on the inside in the moments when life seems like the hardest thing we will ever experience...because that's the honest truth. There aren't instructions, there aren't cheat codes or level skips hiding along the way. There's one way, and that's straight through the middle of it all. And the biggest mistake is in thinking that there's some big prize waiting at the end...the prize is in the experience of living, of loving, finding relationships that are worth nurturing and doing our best to cultivate the passion and fire that sleeps somewhere inside every one of us. It's in taking a step back and looking around at the world you've created for yourself and others and being able to smile simply knowing that you did the very best you could to leave a footprint that will be felt for generations to come...I've been so busy and caught up in the fast-paced antics of a world in motion that I haven't really had a chance to step back and see how things are going. Recently I've been taking at least a day each week to immerse myself in something that I love. Reading. Baseball. Reading about baseball. Singing. Playing music. Being outside in nature. All of these things, however simple or childish, are things that I hold close because they all have special meaning to me and the person that I am. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it's felt to breath......just breath....without having to think about the million and one thoughts that try and stress me out daily. I've really started to see more clearly the things that are important. The things that I guess I've always known were important but somehow failed to acknowledge in quite some time...the biggest of these has been my family. There are so many things in my life that I am proud of. My job. My education. My health. But none of these things would have ever been possible if it weren't for the constant and unwavering rock of love and support that is my family. From my parents and my sister, to my aunts and uncles and cousins, and finally my grandmother. So many factors go into shaping a person and who they are or who they'll become but none more than the presence of a caring family. And I know that there will be people who read this who may say that they have broken families or no family at all for whatever reason but I don't believe that a family is strictly limited to those blood relatives. A family is anyone who believes in you and is there to have your back, to motivate you, to pick you up when your own arms don't seem to be enough. They're the ones who push you more than anyone else to go after what truly makes you happy. The ones who see in you things that you could never imagine. That's family. That's what's important. We all have those people. So do yourself a favor, thank those people in your world. Tell them exactly how much they mean to you. Tell them that you love them. You never know when you won't have that chance anymore. 

I realize this blog got a little long in the tooth and I kind of bounced around a couple different "thoughts" but as I said before, my life has been full of so many "feels" lately and I just needed to get some of them out onto the page. Thanks for reading.