I Was Brave and Learned I Don’t Want to Settle

I’m excited for our guest blogger today, because she has a story that many people can relate to. One day, you become a parent, maybe unexpectedly, and everything changes. You learn a lot about yourself and what you want in the process. And, as you will see from Caitlin’s post, that takes a lot of bravery! Caitlin has a lot to offer on her blog, Aprons, Trainers, and Bibs. You should definitely be following her!

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Now, I don’t know how the story goes for most people, but, for me at least, having a child forced me to be braver than I thought possible and bust out of my rut. I’m not sure how you fall into a rut, I guess it happens gradually, and you usually don’t even realize that you’re in one until it’s too late. Growing up in a small town, with pretty much everything in my life remaining consistent for my entire life, the rut was really mine to fall into. But who wants to be known for being in a boring
ol’ rut their whole life?

I thought I was busting free from that rut when I left for college. After just a short semester away though, I found out I was pregnant, and came right back home to my ever beckoning rut. Fun fact, finding out that you’re pregnant is terrifying because it really makes you examine your
life.. I didn’t know what I was going to do.

Would I just move home? Get a job? Be single forever? Get married right away? Go back to school? Be a career woman? Travel with just my baby and I?

The options were limitless, but all I knew was my small hometown and the small Christian college I went to, so the options didn’t seem very limitless at all.

What I quickly discovered though, was that I wasn’t happy being in my comfy little rut anymore. I didn’t want to go to college just because “that’s what you do”, in fact, I don’t ever want to go back {sorry grandma}! I didn’t want to take some crummy job at a frozen yogurt place just because “the economy is bad and you should count yourself lucky to have a job”, my boss was a complete jerk. So you know what I did?

Exactly what I wanted.

I left school, with no plans on returning.

I quit my first ever job {after one day, it still counts} and stood up for myself against a grumpy old boss.

I got engaged to my prince charming, and told a few mean toads off in the process.

I started a blog, which would have sounded crazy to me 6 months ago, but it’s now a huge part of my life.

I landed my dream job and I’m somehow still going strong, after two whole days on the job.

If I didn’t have my son, I would probably have sucked it up and just toughed it out at school for a few more years, stuck it out at that dead end job, and been unhappy and stuck in that rut!

Instead, having my little monster taught me how to be braver than I ever dreamed, how to take a risk, and most of all, to trust my gut. Realizing that this little life depended on me made it really click:

I don’t want to settle for just getting by.

photo credit: insidi0us via photopin cc

What I want is to be living at 100%, giving my all to everything that I dive into and loving ever single second of it. What I want is to tell my children to follow their dreams and not settle for anything less. What I want is to inspire my family, and others, by walking away from my rut and creating my own future, where I don’t just survive, I thrive.

And that is exactly what I did.

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Caitlin Edmon is a writer and blogger from Los Angeles, California. She
currently lives there with her 2 1/2 year old bundle of energy and her
fiancé, Jamie, who is a professional boxer. In whatever time she has to
spare she enjoys reading, staying active, cooking, and DIY-ing/organizing
everything, then writing about it all. She frequently blogs about
happiness, and she especially enjoys sharing her experiences and lessons
learned from all the challenges and blessings that greet her each day. You
can connect with Caitlin on her blog Aprons, Trainers, and Bibs. And, don’t forget to follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Do you want to be part of my Be Brave Guest Series? Read what it’s all about here.