Small Victories

An old OU friend of mine recently wrote a blog post on her site about how nothing major had really happened in her life during the previous week, but how it is always important to recognize the small things in life and to celebrate those small victories that happen every day. Otherwise the small things can start to get you down.

I can relate. I feel as if I have quickly slipped back into the daily routine of life here in Madrid and find myself thinking about how I have not made any major accomplishments in the last week. It's really an incredible phenomenon that one can live in a foreign country and still feel as if things are mundane.

So it's time to celebrate my small victories and appreciate the little things that have happened in my life lately. Let's do it!

• Body Factory Gym received a new member last Tuesday when I finally decided to do something good for myself and signed up for a gym membership. I've found that I have really become pretty lazy when it comes to doing things for myself, so I finally jumped on the gym bandwagon. (and I feel like I should note that a lot of the motivation for this also came from peer pressure from my co-workers) And I've actually already worked out several times. So yay me.
• I FINALLY booked some trips for myself to get out of Madrid for awhile. I'm going to Valencia next weekend and then Amsterdam at the end of the month. One of my goals for the time I have left has been to do more traveling because I know after leaving in the summer I probably won't be back for a while. Valencia is always fantastic because I have some really great friends who live there and the Netherlands is a place I haven't been to before. So it looks like I've got some pretty cool places to look forward to!
• Speaking of the two previous bullet points, I made the decision that the money I make while over here doesn't do me a whole lot of good just sitting in the bank. So even if cool things (like the gym or a plane ticket) cost a little extra money, it's all worth it in the end. It's just money, right?
• I downloaded two new books (one is a historical thriller that supposedly has received high marks on amazon and the other is a Salmon Rushdie novel, and he is an author who I have recently become obsessed with) and have been reading away once again. Seriously, the Kindle is pretty much the best 150 bucks I've ever spent.
• I made some new Spanish friends in the past few days, and for some reason that always makes me feel kind of accomplished. Like my Spanish is good enough that actual Spanish people like to talk to me in their native language. Or maybe it's just that I'm the foreign guy who sounds funny when he speaks. Either way, I've got new friends.
• I re-connected with some old friends who I haven't talked to in a while and that always makes me feel good, too. I always fear that one of the biggest sacrifices I've made in my years over here in Spain has been my friendships from back home. It's really tough to maintain close friendships when you're an ocean apart. But I'm working on it and this week I did a pretty good job, I think.
• I downloaded some new music, which seems awfully insignificant, but trust me. With my hour and a half commute every day, good new music can be a life saver.

So, as you can see, nothing major in the life of Jordan these days. But some decisions were made, steps taken to further myself, and some big things planned. Individually, everything would seem awfully minor. But together it makes me realize that my life is pretty dang good.