Favorite Inspirational Quotes: Round 3

 

Money, Travel, and Happiness

There is the age old adage that money doesn’t buy you happiness. I agree with this to an extent certainly, because in my view it is not the state of having a lot of money that gives you happiness (if you look at the state of many famous people’s lives there are cautionary tales by the boatload) but rather how the money is spent that can be the cause of one’s happiness. Now do not get me wrong, I love the odd splurge now and again and since I am looking for jobs I wish I could buy out Express and other such stores without a second thought (you know you are an adult when you buy clothes if they can be worn in and out of the office). Recently, I bought 100 dollars worth of nerdy shirts from Red Bubble (check them out they are amazing) and only cringed somewhat until I thought of how awesome I will feel when I wear my Tardis shirt that has Loki inside it http://www.redbubble.com/people/larissaredeker/works/9307439-look-inside-the-tardis. But for me, if I had millions of dollars (I have never bought a lottery ticket but the Mega Millions has begun to make it very tempting) I would spend it on experiences.

I am an experience girl. The times that I am most happy is if I am out and about either by myself or with those I love seeing new places and doing new things. I am a huge fan of Groupon and Living Social and love to spend money on new experiences. I am really looking forward to having a horseback riding lesson with my boyfriend and taking a fencing class by myself (I know my inner British television nerd is showing). Most of all, I love to travel. As I approach the real world I hope that I will have a job that gives me the opportunity to travel but most importantly provides me with the means (aka money) to be able to take my family and friends on adventures. I credit studying abroad in high school and college with giving me the love of life that I have now and as such I want to make sure my future kids have the ability to have their minds opened to the world no matter what the cost. I also see it as no coincidence that my boyfriend and I’s first date was seeing the movie UP. Adventure is truly out there and I love sharing new experiences with him, including traveling to Disney World for the first time with him; experiencing the most magical place on earth with my soul mate is truly priceless. These trips also allow me to engage in my other passion, photography, which I wrote about in a previous post.

I feel like the best way to end this post is with another old adage: Remember happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. I love that the picture I found on Pinterest  shows a trailer. Two of my neighbors, who have become like grandparents to me, make me jealous with their cross country travels in their RV with their dog. I am not joking when I say that I want to be like them when I retire. I hope that I will be savvy enough to have saved enough money to travel around with those I love long into my golden years (my neighborhood grandpa also really loves photography so clearly this is meant to be). So I suppose when I come across money not buying you happiness, I would have to say that it is not entirely accurate. So long as you know what makes you happy and it enriches your life and those around you, money can’t be all bad. Like anything else in life, if it helps to make you happy in the here and now and is not destructive you should totally go for it because filling your house with expensive things for that time in the future when you will finally be happy isn’t the way to do it. After all, you can’t take it with you but your memories and experiences will have shaped your life and the way that people remember you and at the end of the day your happiness journey will have made others happy along the way.

 

 

My Inspiration

A friend of mine on Facebook posted this wonderful article about what one woman wants in her relationships: inspiration http://www.oddcrunch.com/who-to-fall-in-love-with/1. According to Webster’s Dictionary, an inspiration is “a person, place, experience, etc., that makes someone want to do or create something.” I have felt this way about my boyfriend for a long, long time but haven’t been able to put it into words as beautifully as Stephanie did. Full disclosure, I am one of those people that posts a lot of how much they love their significant other on social media and brings him/her up in conversation a lot. Some people are not like that and/or find it annoying but I am not going to apologize for it because it is how I am. I am a very passionate person and my boyfriend is someone that I am truly passionate about. And this is because he inspires me. My boyfriend came over here from China for school knowing some English but not enough to feel comfortable yet he jumped into this strange country with both feet and has flourished. He has tons of friends, a great sense of humor, and hobbies that include anything from hanging out with friends over a traditional Chinese meal to billiards. He inspires me so much because I do not know how I would’ve fared if placed in the same situation. I have studied abroad before, including Japan where I didn’t speak the language and China where I have a working knowledge (I study and am continuing to study Mandarin) but definitely wouldn’t be able to survive on my own. These experiences changed my life but I was always comforted by the fact that I could go home in a few months to the familiar. If I was still in one of these countries 5 years later no doubt I would have adjusted but that would have been after numerous panic attacks and general despondence. As a shy person it took me almost my entire life to get comfortable stating my opinions in English; it might take me that long to be able to do it in Chinese. But my boyfriend inspires me to keep at it and not just so I can talk to his family more. It is because I want to make him proud and along the way, most importantly, prove to myself that I can do it.

This is not the only way that my boyfriend has inspired me. My boyfriend is extremely zen, in the sense that even if things are anoying him he either 1. Does something about it or 2. Doesn’t waste energy on it if there is nothing he can do. It is the latter point that I struggle with most. Probably not a good attitude to have when working in international affairs as things are 90 percent out of even the U.S. government’s control but I like to think that I can use this to help make an impact on foreign policy someday. Personal life-wise it is not so helpful. I cannot control what other people do or if the weather is bad or, my worst nemesis, if we get lost. I know when I “freak out” as my boyfriend puts it it upsets him and he wants to help any way he can but often in these situations nothing can really be done except to tell me that it will all be fine and there is no need to stress. But in reality he has inspired me to help myself and try to get past thinking this way. It is a learned behavior so it will take some time but I have made great progress because I want to be the best I can be both for myself and for him in our relationship. 

There are many things that inspire me: photography, nature, foreign relations, books, my friends, my family, etc. But I have seen myself improve in these areas the most over the past 4 and a half years because I have had my greatest inspiration by my side all this time. And if these years are any indication, the rest of our time together is going to be just as amazing. I can only hope I inspire him too. 

With my dream prince (Weifang) at Disney World. 

The Beauty of Photography

From an early age I have been fascinated by photography. For a long time my dream job was to work for National Geographic as a photographer and travel to exotic locales in search of that rare animal or to learn more about different cultures. I still entertain that possibility as I continue to look for a job; after all, there is a National Geographic Museum in DC. I had the opportunity to take photography classes in high school, one in dark room with *gasp* actual film and another that helped us work with digital cameras. I do not claim to be an expert. Aperture settings still confuse me and I am envious of my fellow photography obsessed friends who have lenses that can get the eye lashes on a bald eagle from miles away (an exaggeration I know but we have all see those lenses that look like they weigh about the same as a small child). But something that I can claim is an ever-growing love of photography. I love posting photographs on Istagram and I am THAT person on Facebook who uploads tons of photos on a pretty regular basis. Like many others I like to keep people informed about what I am doing and occasionally (I am human) inspire some envy as to the beautiful places I am in and the things that I am doing. But ultimately I take photographs because I love capturing memories and want to be able to share them with my future children and also reminisce by surrounding myself with happiness on my walls and in actual photo albums (yes I do still print pictures). I truly believe that photographs have the power to surprise, delight and affect us in profound ways. Just looking at the news today with Twittered photos of both great beauty and great destruction coming at us from all sides makes this quite clear. Even though I may never capture an event that changes the world, I like to think that my photographs have helped me change my own worldview because I can pause and look at just how wonderful my own life is and be truly grateful for all the experiences I have had, from graduating college to traveling the world, to just hanging out with friends in DC. I hope to travel even more in the future and capture more pictures of the world. Forget buying tons of souvenirs, I just want enough memory cards to last me the trip. 

I’ve included some of my favorite scenic photographs below because the world’s beauty is always meant to be shared 🙂 

 

Favorite Inspirational Quotes Courtesy of Pinterest: Round Two