Beautiful Friday | Guest Post by Kim Tran

Kim and I were connected through the SMPS Mentor-Protegee program last year, and I am so proud of her.  She knew she wanted to grow and explore, so she made changes and decided to take a chance moving halfway across the country.

Kim writes...

I’m on such a high from the uncertainties of life right now. Like many other 20-something, I have no idea what I’m doing or where I’m going, and frequently find myself asking, “what is my purpose?”.

Well, I still don’t know. And, I probably won’t know for a long time. 

But, the one thing I’m sure of right in this moment is that I want to break the mundane cycle and live a life of adventure/misadventure. I don’t want just a good comfortable life. I want a life full of stories. Stories that will hopefully leave footprints in people’s hearts and inspire them to find their own fulfillment and happiness, even if that comes at a cost of making many mistakes, enduring bad days, and losing security. 

Any which way, I hope to find a deeper appreciation for all of the good things in life someday. If only good things happen, we cease to understand what "good" really is. So, I am willing to endure the good with the bad that will inevitably befalls me on this journey.

The greatest risk you will take are the risks that you never took...does that make any sense? Anyhow, I leave you with a quote that makes me feel like I know what I'm doing in the least bit...

“make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild