Thanksgiving 2011

For quite a while now, I've felt dissatisfied with my life, that I'm just existing rather than actually living. Being lost in middle age is quite common, apparently. In fact, as I look around me at my friends who graduated the same time as I did, I see them all grinding away at their jobs, taking care of their families and just...well, existing. Just as I was merely existing.

Well, that was a few months back. Somehow or another, I must have decided to move away from that boring, mundane life because I have no recollection of saying to myself, "Enough is enough, let's start living!"

Today, I'm looking at what I'm doing and I'm...content. I'm doing quite a lot now:

• I've put myself out there with my bagpipe practice; in fact, I'm hoping to audition for a pipe band soon (where soon is sometime in a year or so).
• I'm also learning the ocarina and will be performing in-game.
• Oh, did I mention that I've joined a Live Action Role Play group? Yep, going to be performing in-game with my ocarina - should be glorious fun!
• At work, I've received authorization to look for internal transfer positions and I'm enrolled in management training.
• Professionally, I'm also working with a major organization in the States to open up an affiliate chapter for the branch of management I'm going to be involved in.

For the first time in my life, I can feel music flowing through me. I picked up an ocarina and within a day, I was able to play a tune of mid-level complexity. Finally, I can breathe beauty into this world once more!

I have a busy life. A crazy, stressful busy life but one where I'm contributing and where my contributions are valued for the most part. So for this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for my dear family and being able to be a part of their lives but I'm also thankful for the fact that my life is full. No, I won't cure cancer or make some amazing discovery. My name isn't going to be in the history books. But I would hope that it will be in the hearts of the people I love and care for.