Happiness is a state of mind

Hi. My name is Erika, I'm turning 21 eventually, and I am at the happiest that I have ever been in my entire life.

No, this isn't just one of those brief (and seldom) moments wherein I'm feeling so overjoyed one second then the next thing you know I'm a hot ball of mess. No, I am truly, generally, very happy (and grateful) with where I am in my life right now.

Well for one, my first semester in MAWD just (technically) ended today. I survived! I would very much like to talk about how these first five months of supposedly being a feminist completely overhauled the life that I have already been living for two decades but that's a whole other story deserving of a whole other blog post.

Anyways, during our short dinner-cum-celebration a while ago, my classmates told our professor that I finally have a real, full-time job. They started to ask questions so I eventually talked about it. Then that's when it hit me - I really have a job now. I have a job; I'm finally growing up.

2011 has not even ended yet and already it has brought a lot of changes in my life. Among these things: I graduated from college, enrolled myself to a graduate program specifically studying about women, realized my potential as a development advocate, actually thoroughly planned for my future, strengthened my faith and spiritual relationship, actually committed to a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise, got a job that I really like, and allowed myself to feel again and be vulnerable.

It has not been an easy ride. I encountered a lot of self-doubt, uncertainty, frustrations, and lost hopes but the bumps along the way are more than worth all that I have right now. I am secure; I am truly happy. I have changed (hopefully for the better) and I would like to think that I am a lot closer to the self that I have been envisioning for a couple of years now.

But the problem with attaining such sense of being complete, of utmost happiness, is the what comes after. It's not necessarily about that pessimistic thinking that something bad might happen because there should be balance in nature. It's more of now that I'm here, what do I do next?

Hence the birth of this blog. If you'd search for my name through Google, at least ten pages of links of my social networking accounts will flood your screen. I can't say that I won't abandon this one just like how I abandoned the many others (commitment issues, another thing that I should write about in the future) but what the heck. Truth be told, I am at the happiest that I have ever been.