Staying motivated takes work

Like, a lot of work.

This past semester I went through some ups and downs. And by some a mean tons of ups and even more downs. For a while I was convinced I was finally going to start a company, and a few days later I thought I'd never actually get to point in my life where I'd have the guts and willingness to actually start one. For a while I thought I might get a 4.0 for the semester (HA!), then I was convinced I'd be lucky to get just one A.

I guess what I'm saying is that my semester was very all over the place.

Sure, it's normal to go through different phases in life, but mine were incredibly dramatic. I did do a lot of soul-searching during the semester, that I'm still doing into the summer. I have no idea where my life will take me, but I know that I'll never give up on being successful.

What I've learned over the past few months, and what I'm still learning, is that sometimes you just have to take a step back from everything and reevaluate where you are in life. I realized I'm not the same person I was just a year ago, and that I'm drastically different from the person I was two years ago. While I believe that change is good, and that we should all grow as people, you should never lose your passions, you should never lose who you are fundamentally.

I had a moment where I realized that I had to change my life, that I had to get back to who I was before, or at least become closer to myself. I wouldn't call it rock bottom or anything, but it was definitely a low. I needed that low, I needed something to push me back on track. Now, I'm not completely back on track, but I'm a hell of a lot closer than I was. I'm starting to regain my passions, to get the drive I need to study (even though it's currently summer), to delve into business ideas, to read all the books on my list, and to plan the trips I've so desperately wanted to take.

I'm not sure where I started to get off track, or what kept pushing me further and further away from myself, but I'm glad it did. It sucked at the time, but I'm growing to appreciate who I am much more because of it.

If you ever find yourself off track don't be afraid to take a step back and really look at your life. I'll write a little more on how I'm working to get back to my 'normal' motivated self later this week.

I booked a trip to Europe 10 days before leaving

Yep, you read that right. Something you should know about me: I'm a super spontaneous person. I tend to make decisions on a whim very often. 

I had a plan for my spring break months in advance. I knew I wanted to go to Cancun. I knew that I would stay in a hotel on the beach with my group of friends and we would drink all day, party all night.

I was wrong.

My roommate ended up being the only person that could go with me. Then even she canceled on me. She canceled ten days before the trip.

So, being the person that I am, I wasn't about to just go home for spring break, because who wants to do that? (There are probably a lot of people who would love to go home, I'm just not one of them). Then I had it: I would go to Europe. I originally planned on only going to Dublin, but throughout the time I was planning, it progressed into visiting Zürich, Madrid, and Dublin. 

The fact that I had planned an entire trip to Europe within the span of a few hours was insane, and I knew that, but I wanted to go through with it anyway. So I called my mom and said "Mom, I have another crazy idea, but I think you're going to like it!" and she replied with her typical response "oh boy, let me sit down for this." It took a bit of convincing, but I knew she would love the idea.

(To get something straight, I wasn't calling to convince my parents to pay for this trip, I did that all myself. I was just convincing them to give me their blessing to travel across the world; have to make them feel like they still have some control over my decisions, right?)

So that night I solidified my plans, purchased my plane tickets, booked my hotel, hostel, and Airbnb, and went on with my life. Just kidding, I didn't really move on, I did a ton of looking at activities to do in the different cities, budgeting both money and time, and getting everything ready to go.

All in all, I wouldn't suggest planning a trip this last minute unless you have the funds for a trip ready to go and can devote a significant amount of time to trip planning in the days before you depart. It was incredibly nice to plan the trip and be able to leave almost right away, though. It was like the excitement was happening all at once, and I couldn't have been happier.

There were definitely some mishaps, some challenges, and some significant ups and downs throughout the trip (which I'll definitely write about later), but the highs definitely outweigh the lows, if you're into cliché sayings like that.