Learning to Be a Passenger in Life + Big Life Announcement

I'll admit it. I'm a control freak. 

I like to follow a similar schedule every day. I'm not a huge fan of surprises. And I'm the kind of college student who did homework two nights ahead of time; if I was working on a project the day before it was due, I was "late" by my standards. 

I think this love of control is why the last few weeks have been so challenging. Random meetings for work. And, even more significantly, uncertainty. Where will I go to grad school? Will I go to grad school?

Well, I have the answer to that - and you should keep reading to find out where this celiac is heading to next. But, even as I wrote my official acceptance email earlier this week, a mantra from a hot yoga class I took a few weeks ago rang in my head: "Be the passenger in life."

Stop worrying about having both hands securely on the steering wheel. 

Enjoy the ride instead of trying to take shortcut after shortcut. 

Actually notice and appreciate your surroundings rather than wearing "end result" blinders. 

Accept that you can't control everything, but that doesn't mean you'll crash. 

As we grow older, we get fewer opportunities to be a passenger in our car. We're driving to work and to the grocery store and to pick up kids from school. We're so busy, we might not even have time to realize how much we miss sitting in the backseat and watching the clouds fly by. 

Until we stop. 

Sometimes that stopping looks like a yoga class. Other times, it means saying yes to an amazing opportunity...even that opportunity will take me away from all the people I've ever known.

I won't claim that I've figured out this whole passenger thing in the few weeks since I first heard that mantra. But I think I've also taken baby steps to peeling my fingers off the steering wheel - like by officially accepting a fully-funded position in Minnesota State University, Mankato's MFA program.

I've never lived in Minnesota. Heck, I've never even visited. But in only a handful of months, Minnesota will be my home for three years. 

I'll be living 100% on my own for the first time. I'll be teaching my first college class before I turn 22 (since I'm paying for my schooling through a teaching assistantship). And, considering Colorado is "cold" for me, I'll likely be freezin' my little booty off. 

From MSU Mankato's Instagram!

But I'm trusting that this is where I should be. That the GPS life has given me won't send me down a detour I can't handle. That, when I let go, I'll actually be opening myself up to everything I need. 

I'm a control freak - but I'm working on it. And, when I finally let myself be driven, I can't wait to truly see the gorgeous views outside my passengers window. 

*Also found at Flaunt it Friday, Dare to Share*

Are you a control freak or a go-with-the-flow kind of person?