Brick by Brick

By the time you're reading this I'm either about to take, taking, or FINISHED with my last final exam of this second bachelor's degree that I am working on - SAY WHAT? (The exam is at 10 am so if you're reading this before then - good vibes welcome). 
I feel like I just started on this path to become a speech-language pathologist and yet here we are, about to start grad school. When I went back to school in August 2015, grad school seemed like a lifetime away. 2 years - that will feel like forever...so I thought. Which got me thinking - how often do we (myself included) become paralyzed by tunnel vision? We get so worried about how we're going to get to the "end goal." How we're going to make it happen. Where we're going to start.
As I wrap up this second bachelor's degree, I'm doing a little bit of reflecting. The last year and a half was rough. I allowed myself to be consumed with reaching that "end goal" aka getting into grad school. I was so overwhelmed and spent the majority of my time pushing things that are important to me (friendships, beach days, date nights, etc.) to the side in order to GET THERE. I hardly enjoyed the journey to get there because I was rushing to get to the end without taking in present moments. Well I'm not letting myself do that again through grad school.
I was praying and meditating the other day and I just kept going back to the phrase: "Brick by brick." I was reminded that things are not built overnight. Things are built brick by brick. In order to place a brick where it needs to go, you have to focus on that brick. You have to pick it up, hold it, decide where it needs to go, and put it there before moving onto the next one. This process requires that we be focused on the present moment. 
If we focus too much on the past, we never get around to adding new bricks to our growing building. And if we focus too much on the future, we end up skipping bricks that are essential to a strong foundation. Either way, our buildings are not as strong as they could be. The best way to build a strong structure is to focus on the present moment - to build it brick by brick.

I am so excited to begin my grad school journey come August - but for now, I'll be focusing on the rest that comes with the sweet summertime. I encourage you to stop right where you are and appreciate the present moment. You won't get where you want to be overnight, but instead you will get there by putting in a little bit of work each day (brick by brick) and by enjoying each moment as it comes. 
xo, Jess
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