less is more: 2017

Tomorrow will be the first day of 2017.  

I'll wake up at 4 am to drive an hour to the Austin airport, drop Morgan off for his flight back to LA, come back home to my parent's house and probably make myself a cup of coffee, chill out, and maybe do a little bit of writing.

I was hoping Morgan and I would be together on January 1st so we could do some planning together but our flight schedules didn't allow that this year, besides, something about being in this sleepy little piece of Texas countrside to plan my new year is comforting to me.  The stillness and quietness allow my thoughts to come forward and there are no distractions to sway me.  Just pure, unadulterated stillness and a beautiful foggy morning view of Texas fields out of the window.

Although I'm not totally sure what I'll write down tomorrow I do know the general concept that I'm taking into this coming year is less is more.  Less stuff, less fear of the unknown, less self loathing.  Cutting back on certain things in my life to create space for the positives.  

One big notion that came to me, while talking to one of my good friends, was cutting back on all the stuff.  Being in the fashion industry and constantly soaking up blogs, instagrams, tumblrs, pinterest, and everything in between I'm always on the hunt for the next trend or beauty product.  It's exhausting!  Not to mention detrimental to our bank accounts and the environment in some form.  

As a young creative living on my own in Los Angeles I've learned how important it is to be financially smart.  Our culture does not make this easy, we are constantly bombarded with new things to eat, buy, and experience.  We truly have to understand ourselves and own paths to be able to make smart decisions.  I for one always struggle with this, but as I tossed around this concept in my head I did a mental scan of all my belongings.  I have everything I need.  I can bring new life into that vintage blouse in the back of my closet, style in it a new way and voila! It's beautiful again.  I'm doing more with less, getting more creative, and denying society's push to consume the 'newest' 'best' thing.

2016 was a weird year for me on a personal level, there were some really great times but over all I felt like I was running in place.  I had grown so much in the years before that I guess 2016 just felt like I had plateau-ed.  But I've come to realize, that I think it takes those odd years to continue our path as a human being.  These murky, stagnant 2016 waters have me craving the unknown in 2017 I'm ready to be in uncomfortable situations (did I just say that!?)  I'm ready to force myself to push past this comfort barrier, and I'm ready to fail (again, did I just say that!?) and maybe even ready to succeed.