What's Next?

It has been four years, almost to the day, since my last blog post. I'm so different than I was four years ago, and so much has happened; an unbelievable amount, actually. Rough overview:

- Finished school and started working as a dental assistant
- Socialized more than ever in my life
- Began learning who I was, and how to be ok with it
- Fell in love
- Went through the temple
- Served a mission in Montana (waddup 406??)
- Had my heart and spirit broken in more ways than I can convey
- Started (and continue) building my faith in God from the ground level
- Went back to work as a dental assistant (and I LOVE it!)
- Bought a car
- Moved back to Utah
- Hit the big 2-5
- Pierced my ears (for the fourth and LAST time)
- Visited my mission a few times
- Vacays to Disneyland, Las Vegas, and St. George
- Binge-watched entire Parks and Recreation series in a week.....

That's pretty much where I'm at. I was thinking this morning about the pros and cons of being a mid-twenties adult. For me, the biggest con is that it feels like there's no next step. *Side-note: I KNOW that the next step is marriage. I got it. We're just gonna put that aside for right now, since there's little to no way to control the timing of that eventuality.* When you were a kid/teen, you always knew the next step - whatever grade level came next, and/or passing  your driver's test, and/or graduating. Then you go to college; you choose a major, you choose which social activities to go to, which classes to take, which friends to make, etc. As you move on to adulthood (from a Mormon perspective), you get to choose whether you want to pursue getting married or serving a mission, you receive a patriarchal blessing, you go through the temple to receive your endowment, and all of these things happen according to God's will and timing as it is revealed to you. So many beautiful milestones to reach!

Well, now I've done all those things (minus marriage, but we already talked about that). So, what now? I've done all those things, I've got a great job, I pay the bills, bills, bills, I try to be a good person and stay right with God......but the overwhelming question since I got home from my mission has been "what now?" And I still don't know the answer.

I've never been good at waiting, which means I'll probably learn great things from this time in my life. For now, I'm trying to focus on the pros of being a mid-twenties adult (i.e. makin' that cheddar, road-tripping whenever I want, being independent, etc.). I also just started reading a book called The Happiness Project. I'm excited to see what fresh new ideas it holds, but ironically my favorite line from the book so far is a quote by Alfred North Whitehead: "Everything important has been said before."

I suppose time will tell.