Count Up or Count Down? #ParisGirlProblems

It would appear that I have 4 weeks left in Paris or that I have spent 8 weeks in Paris. The question is how do you look at it? Is it a glass half empty or glass half full outlook? Do I look at the next few weeks as just 4 more weeks left in a city I have dreamed of living in since I saw my first Eiffel Tower or do I look at it as 4 more weeks until I can return home to reality and leave Paris behind like an elongated dream? 

My journey through Paris was never about the destination. The destination is Paris and I accomplished that journey on a 7 hour plane ride. It wasn't about the journey either because that relates back to the 7 hour (extremely uncomfortable to sleep) plane ride. What if the journey didn't start and stop with the plane ride? What if stepping off that plane began an entirely new journey for me? I guess in life there are journeys within journeys and destinations beyond the one we intended on. 

Having accomplished 8 weeks in Paris I am an entirely different person from the girl that stepped off that plane. Sometimes it's hard for me to realize it but I know in my heart that I am different. For better or worse? Well, that's something you'll have to decide. Where my life is at now is a journey I never planned on taking and the destination is still unknown. The things I left behind, the people, they will be waiting for me in 4 weeks. Since being in Paris I've not only changed but I've grown and that is reason for my change. I'm starting to become the adult I've always dreamed about as a little girl playing pretend. There comes a point where you stop pretending and you start living. In my mind Paris was always a dream land, never a potential living experience. Yet here I am, living my pretend dream. 

So often in life we play pretend, even into our adulthood. We pretend we're rich, we pretend we're the CEO, we pretend we have everything we've ever wanted. What does that give us except false reality? I want to spend my life remembering all the times I pretended as a child and turned that into my reality. I want to live in the reality that I created in my head. 

And I do. 

I have an incredible best friend who I am madly in love with and who respects all my dreams and pushes me to make them my reality. I wouldn't be here today, living in Paris, if it weren't for him telling me I can do anything I want. I have incredible parents who let me live my dream and let me figure out who I want to be without ever casting doubt on my goals. I have incredible friends who believe in me and support me, the ones who don't well, they are not true friends. The point is when you're surrounded by people that believe in your dreams just as much as you do, then how can you be afraid to try? Maybe you don't have support or belief or trust from others but you still have your support, your belief, your trust in yourself. Let that be your strength and determination. 

I have 4 weeks to make the most out of my dream. Every day is one less day I have in Paris. 

Life isn't about the destinations we set in our minds, but the journeys we take with each step.