23 years ago, I was born in Riverside, California. I was brought home to the same blue home-sweet-home I live in today. I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona for 4 years of college, and returned home to sunny Southern California for one full year. Unbelievably enough, my graduation ceremony was one year ago today! And in 48 hours, I will be moving 1,000 miles away to Idaho.

{Boise River & Foothills}

Do I have any friends there? None.

A job lined up? Not yet.

Do I know the area? Nope. Google Maps, baby!

*I do, however, already have a gym membership ;)

Basically I’m heading towards a new apartment, new state, new job, new friends, new gym, new sights and scenery, new memories – it’s an opportunity for a brand new fresh start at shaping my life into whatever I want it to be.

Before I get caught up in moving in, I thought I would share some of my original intentions with this move as part of my post-grad journey that I’m sure so many girls can relate to. You don’t just quit your job, pack up your life and move 1,000 miles away for no reason. Here’s what I’m hoping Idaho life will bring:

1.) Once I am settled into my Boise home and working as a personal trainer, I hope to fully appreciate the moment I am in without a continual infatuation with the future. I’ve been so focused on “what comes next” for the past 9+ years. For the first time in a long time, I won’t be caught up in applying to grad school, apartment hunting, job searching, marathon training, etc. I want to give myself however many weeks or even months I need before I set a new goal and start launching in to something else new. I want to 100% soak in exactly where I am without concentrating on what else I need to do or where I need to go.

2.) I hope that I can take this opportunity to meet new people to overcome some of the insecurities and social anxiety that I developed over the past 4 years. In high school, I was energetic and confident, and always eager to take pictures with my friends. Once I began the medical process to correct my venous malformation, I became more and more aware of my own imperfections and I let that dictate how I felt (feel) looking in the mirror, on camera, or meeting new people.

For the past couple of years, I comforted myself thinking that one day I will look perfect, and THEN I can start to meet new people and make new memories. I’ve only recently come to terms with the fact that my “medical journey” has risks that far outweigh the reward and that my flaws and imperfections are just something I need to embrace; they are here to stay. I hope that I can find confidence again, silence my self-criticism, and meet all kinds of new people.

3.) Huckleberries! Every time I’ve visited the PNW in the past 4 years, huckleberries aren’t in season. So I’ve settled for a huckleberry chocolate bar & huckleberry wine. I can’t wait to try the dang berry without high fructose corn syrup and fermentation.

4.) I hope to find Purpose! Okay this is a BIG one….and not something I expect to find right away. Like I said, I’m 23! But since I have this opportunity to begin a brand new job (and to put that NASM cert to use!) I hope to figure out what direction my passion and interests take me in my career. I went through the sports marketing thing, I had my first big corporate experience, and I have always loved writing. My “dream job” is still a mystery! (Unless Ben & Jerry’s wants to sponsor me to be a full-time runner.)

Initially I plan to work in an athletic club and pursue personal training, simply for the fact that I am OBSESSED with fitness, eager to learn and share what I know with others, and work in such an active and engaging environment.  After that, I have no set plans and will be happily figuring it out as I go along :)

5.) I’m hoping for….More blogging material! To be perfectly honest, I’m banking on Idaho providing awesome photos and recaps! I hope that I take as many day-trips and adventures as I’m thinking I will and share beautiful pictures and stories on this online scrapbook. I love documenting my vacations and adventures with friends, looking back at old pictures and reading through the details like a story.

6.) I hope to Simplify. Leaving California will not be a sad day – I hate crowds, traffic, long lines, and cityscape. To be fair, nobody would claim to be a “fan” of traffic or long lines. But for some reason, millions of people see a benefit of living here that outweighs these cons. (Last week, the population of just the city of Los Angeles surpassed 4 million.) I personally don’t see the benefit. It must be clouded by all the smog ;)

I’ve visited Boise and surrounding towns enough to see that the pace of life is much slower and the people are a thousand times more genuine. We had the entire Target store practically to ourselves. One time I had to visit the Urgent Care, and I was seen and treated in less than an hour. (For comparison, I would be sitting in a Riverside waiting room for half a day.) Not to mention, the staff in Idaho actually looked healthy and my doctor was Grey’s Anatomy-worthy cute. Always a perk ;)

I am absolutely full of optimism and curiosity for this new chapter (ugh, sounds so cliche but it’s true.) I know that it’s fully up to ME to make the most of it – to make an effort to meet people, put myself out there, work hard, explore, and let go of any unnecessary negativity. So let’s do this!

I’ll try to document some of my roadtrip on my snapchat story if you want to follow along: @kenzalyse.

XOXO Kenz.