Skeletons

We all have skeletons...both in our bodies and in our past.

While exercise and milk will strengthen my bones, there is no way to travel through time to change the skeletons of my past.

Last summer, I noticed a friend of mine has a tattoo that says, "No Regrets". At the time, I felt like I had regrets. I had been married to someone for a short amount of time, and was going through the process of moving on from that. I had been drinking a lot and wasn't satisfied with the progress of my photography company, Blush. I felt like I had wasted so much time and energy on a relationship with a man, rather than with myself. There was so much that I hadn't done yet...so many goals not met, and I wasn't doing much to achieve any of them. It was a hard time for me.

Looking back on that time, I now see a woman who was truly in charge of her life. I had left a verbally abusive and loveless relationship to better myself, I had true friends who loved their lives, and at the end of the day, it was a time where I was preparing for the biggest goal of all...growth. Which is a goal that I hope to never achieve fully.

My un-met goals at the time were simply evolving into new goals. I just hadn't noticed or accepted these changes, yet. The things once very important to me, had begun to take new form.

During this time of self-discovery, I had also moved out of my photography studio in SODO and into a Capitol Hill one-bedroom apartment. It was the tail-end of summer, still warm and sunny outside. I was near parks, shopping and restaurants, and had walls and doors with charming features, unlike living in an industrial studio space. The new environment gave me new energy. I was also able to take on a creative passion- interior decorating. It was truly refreshing. That move was exactly what I needed to accept change in my life.

So, I guess my skeletons aren't really skeletons at all. They are simply the things that have lead me to where I am now. And the things occurring now will soon become the things that lead me to where I wish to be. I truly believe that future Kristen can look back on this time with no regrets.

*Above Photo: Me at the Wild Horses monument, May 2009.