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Let Me, Give Thanks.

Thanksgiving.

One of the simplest, uncluttered holidays of the year. No gifts, no unnecessary greeting cards, nothing superficial. Just family and love. It’s easy.

I’m thankful for many things in my life, but this year, I’m especially thankful for two things: People and Opportunity.

I’m thankful for the people who have believed in me. The people who have given me a chance to be myself and share my life with them. The people who have opened their arms to me and welcomed me to be a part of their own life. The people who have joined me in my adventures and helped create them. And mostly the people who have always supported me, loved me, and encouraged me to be my best.
Throughout 8 years of friendship, I’ve had the privilege of finding my soul-mate in my best friend; a woman I trust with my entire world and respect with my whole heart. She’s my better half, my kick-in-the-pants, and my partner in crime.

In my travels between BC and Alberta, I found friends in the most amazing people. I’ve fallen in lust, created friendships that will last a lifetime, and I’ve met some of the most interesting people I’ve ever known. I found a forever friend in someone twice my age, a mentor and good friend in a woman who’s respected by many, and I’ve created great bonds with many people who I would have never met without the decisions I made to relocate myself.

People I’ve always known, new faces, and even random strangers have wiggled their way into my heart and found a special spot. I’m okay with this and I hope those certain people stay there; my heart will continue to grow as I hopefully meet more people who exude pure awesome-ness.

The people I am the most thankful for: my family. Through good, bad, tears and every smile – they’re always there, no questions asked. I love them, for loving me unconditionally. They don’t judge me and they stand behind me with encouragement as I continue to try new things and find the best ways to live my life. I’m far from perfect, but that doesn’t matter to them.

Over the past (almost) two years, I’ve been blessed with incredible opportunities to leave an impact on this world. I’m lucky enough to have a job that allows to me to write every day and be myself. I’m so grateful to have found ways to fuel my passion for writing; I’m so happy that I get to share it with the world. Through my previous blog, my work in radio copywriting, and my freelance work for The Province blog page – I have a chance to write what I want. I get to express myself and people actually read my work. (THAT is SO cool! I’m still in awe over that, all the freakin’ time!)

The other day, I had a chance to hang out with the graduating class of the Broadcast Communications Radio program at BCIT. It was an extreme honour to be able to share my story and my insight on life after graduation and my experience in the industry. When I stop and think to myself that I only graduated a year ago, I’m totally shocked that they see me as someone worthy of offering advice. It was such a flattering experience and really opened my eyes as to how incredibly fortunate I am in my small successes thus far.

I’m thankful for so much in this life, but it’s the people and the life I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy in the past 19 months that has made me truly grateful to be… me.
Life isn’t perfect; it’s never going to be. So look at what you have, see the awesome in it and keep doing YOU.

Be thankful for what you’ve got, right now. Big or small – it’s gotta’ be something to smile about.

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Fresh Starts

I often say that I wish life had a rewind button, a pause button, and sometimes an undo button; every now and then, a fast forward button wouldn’t hurt either.

Unfortunately, those buttons don’t exist. Which, in reality, is probably a good thing. ‘Cause that’s what life’s all about right?! Those frustrating, unpredictable moments. The unforeseen curveballs and crazy circumstances we sometimes curse upon. Ya, it ain’t perfect… but someone once told me that it life wasn’t meant to be perfect. (I think they stole that from some incredibly wise person who’s since passed on, but was probably right when they quoted that.)

Speaking of which, life’s been a little insane lately. I’ve been up, I’ve hit rock bottom, I’ve been through the wringer and hung out to dry. After all of that, I’m still here and I’ve decided to start fresh!

You may know me from previous blog posts at thomsonjennifer.wordpress.com. While there’s nothing wrong the author behind those posts, I feel that the content of that site continuously reminds me of an uncomfortable place in my life.

On March 24, 2011, I made this big decision to pack up the life I’d always known and start my career. I put myself in an unfamiliar setting without any idea of how much that one decision would completely change my life. March 2011 until October 2012 were some of the most interesting months of my life. They were completely imperfect and full of unexpected changes; my life was a consistent chaos of good, bad, horrible and fascinating experiences. I would never trade those 19 months for anything, but I’ll be completely honest and say they weren’t easy. Those were some of the hardest times of my entire life, challenging me in every aspect possible. In that time, I found myself and lost some of the people I thought were incredibly important to me; I gained new friends, new insights, new leases on life and I discovered my true potential. I learned to strengthen certain relationships over endless distances with the power of a long distance phone plan and Skype, and I realized that some friendships weren’t quite as strong as I had always believed them to be. I fell in love, fell out of love, fell in lust and found my soul-mate. I created a whole new life and became a new person… all because of that one decision I made to start my career in small town, B.C.

Anyone will tell you that I hate change, but it’s inevitable and I’m slowly learning to accept it. The whirlwind of life that came my way these past few months caught me off guard, wore me down and almost defeated me. BUT, I’m still here, and I’ve decided that there’s no better time to embrace all the changes and make the best of it all. Hence – starting fresh.

So here we go. A fresh start to be the best me possible.

Join me, won’t you?