I spent almost 18 months discovering myself and finding what is it that I love, the things I’m passionate about, the things that I hate with a passion, the secret of a life without regrets, discovering what living in your 40s really mean and, finally, figuring out what I want to do when I grow up.

It was all about making friends, learning to treasure all your time on earth because it’s not a given… like a friend from high school who, 10 years ago, was the only fatality from 5 passengers in the car he was driving.

Part of living life without regrets is doing everything to its fullest, whatever shape everything takes and acknowledging that you’re not perfect and that you don’t have to be… your good is better than most people’s best.

Learning to be passionate about what you love is harder than I thought it would be. Have I been perfect about it… of course not. But you know what? I wouldn’t have changed the last 16 months for the world.

Empathy

One of the things that continually surprise me is how selfish people get. My favorite pet peeve has always been the idiots who ride their bikes on the sidewalk, right where it tells you to walk your bike, women barging in and almost running me over because they assumed I was going to let them through (saddest was a girl who almost got hit by a door and the proceeded to berate me for 10+ minutes because I didn’t hold the door open)… It’s almost as if all common courtesy ends when it doesn’t affect them.

New job, new beginning

The job found by accident… you know one of those applications you send in those days when the job might sound interesting but you doubt you’re going to get it. Until you get a call from the recruiter. Then the hiring manager wants to talk to you. Then the hiring manager wants to meet you and then the hiring manager wants to hire you.