I am curious about a lot of things. I want to learn as much as I possibly can before I leave this earth. I want to explore as many places and gain as much knowledge as I can. To me, that is the difference between living and just existing. We can make plans to do whatever we dream and that’s great. But our random curiosity can take lead us to experience the most exciting things of our lives.

As a child, we heard many of the adults in our lives ask us what we wanted to be when we grow up. We went into deep thought sometimes to give them the “right” answer. Seems like they wanted us to pick one dream and spend our lives trying to make that dream happen. As we grow up, most of us attempt to focus on that same dream and create plans to help us achieve that dream. To be honest with you all, I had a few dreams and many many plans. Some of them I am proud to say I have achieved, the others, I tossed them away and lit the paper on fire! Planning can be cool. Preparing for things that we want in our lives is a sign of maturity, but what happens when along the way to pursuing those dreams, you become curious about something else? When I am curious, I throw on my Sherlock Holmes gear and I start researching and chasing!

No one really asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up until high school. Regardless of that, I always knew. I wanted to be an accountant and work for the firm that handled the New York Lottery. I knew it from the time I hit high school and I was on that path until I got curious. My love for fashion and hair took me down another path. Although I still pursued my degree, and I have two of them, my love for the beauty transformation has prevailed. And that’s OK. I am probably not making the money that I would have made as an accountant in a firm, but I am fulfilled and happy. I love what I do and the people I meet doing it. My clients are like family and that has made my life so much more colorful and beautiful. I love the daily challenges and the smiles on my client’s faces as we make their visions come alive and they get to feel better about themselves. I can say that I am part of that and it does make me happy, make me love my career choice even more. Not everyday is like that, but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

I know for sure that most of the things that I have experienced in my life were not planned; they were the results of my curiosity. My life has always been crazy and I thought I had it all mapped out. Then I let go. So many ups and downs, twists and turns, all of them making me who I am today. All of them I am grateful for. We all change over time (most of us). Our wants and interests definitely do. As I learn more and more about myself (I am finally taking the time to get to know me now that my children are older—silly me), the more I see that wanting to be someone is not as important as knowing who I am right now, loving who I am right now! I still have dreams that I have not accomplished and I have not given up on some of those as of yet. I don’t beat myself up about them. If I gave the goal up or just failed at accomplishing it, I make sure it happened that way for the right reason. Maybe it no longer lined up with who I am or my current desires or it is no longer one of my passions. It is not failing if it no longer suits who I am..and its not necessarily quitting. It is more of a strategic move and it will be a part of my growth.

Take risks! When you leave your comfort zone, you run the risk of failing, yes, but you also run the risk of succeeding. I feel brave when I do things outside of my comfort zone. I feel empowered. I have met some of the greatest people and had my greatest experiences when I left my comfort zone to live on “the wild side”. I am grateful for all of the results, good and bad.

So what if you do not have the educational background! Experience is a good teacher. Using your creativity to peer into your curiosity is LIVING…more than just existing. You discover your talents and you find out who you are and what you are really made of. Everything that you have accomplished and/or overcome has made you who you are today. Every job you held, every person you encountered, every accomplishment and failure has helped you to grow in some way into the beautiful person that you are right now. What will the experiences of tomorrow teach you?

People are important too! Those people who have helped to raise you, shared ideas and dreams with you…they are important. From the lifetime relationships to the super brief encounters, we learn from people and they learn something from us. Some of those people will remain under the label of coworker, classmate,  colleague, or passer-by. Others will graduate to the more prestigious label of friend. 

Many times I was curious about something and fear kept me from moving toward the experience. Not anymore. Every time I am curious about a person or experience and I believe that it/they will enhance my life and benefit my spirit, I pursue adding them to my life. If nothing else, I will learn something new about myself…once again. I am in control of  how the people and experiences will impact my life. I have to trust my decisions and always make moves that show how much I love and care for myself, including knowing when to quit. Trust your gut!!!

Your journey and the experiences that you are having are all part of your story. You can continue to revise your story whenever you please. You create your reality. We love certainty in our lives but a lot of us like the mystery of uncertainty. There is beauty in the uncertainty too. Everything that we experience, every person that we encounter, is there for a reason. It is all supposed to happen, whether we planned it or not. Be curious! Just don’t stop there. Live a little.