People do not appreciate their hometown.

This winter break (and my last winter break, sigh) I was visiting my dad in Tucson, Arizona.

I had lived in Arizona before and had visited multiple times but the beauty of this state has had a lasting impact on me. But, my dad was blind to the beauty that is Arizona. 

In the early morning I would comment on the beauty of the sunrise peeking from behind the mountains making the sky look as if it was a watercolor painting with beautiful oranges and reds. During the day the I would be enamored with the cloudless skies all a consistent shade of blue, the truest sky blue one could probably ever experience. And during the night being able to look up in to the sky without light pollution and actually able to see the stars glimmering back at me, and coming to the realization that the night sky isn't actually a black mass but, has a little bit of a dark blue and purple tint. 

When I would say to my dad how beautiful these things were, it allowed him to look at things from a visitors perspective of one who isn't surrounded by these things daily.

It made me think about all the places I have been for an extended period where I eventually took it for granted and eventually became numb to its beauty and original state of wonder I possessed when I had first arrived. 

I am currently feeling that way about Ohio and would tell anyone who will listen how much I dislike it here and how ready I am to leave and move as far awaybas possible (its mostly my deep-seated aversion to cold and senioritis that spawns these feelings). 

But, I am trying to change that.

Steps To Remembering the Beauty of Your Hometown:

For my final adventure of 2018 and to ring in the new year I went on an adventure with my family to Thailand.

As I sit and reminisce on my past year it was filled with adventure. Out of the 12 months of the year I was abroad about 7 months. Which is pretty surreal to think about. The only thing I'm sure about in life after college is that I want to live abroad and getting this little taste of it was amazing. Travel wise I got to accomplish many of my goals and visited many of the countries on my list. Academically I did okay, my current GPA is a 3.295 which I'm most definitely not mad at. As for my personal goals they kinda fell to the wayside. My procrastination, anxiety, and lack of self discipline were my downfall. But, at least I'm self aware enough to realize my downfalls and act to fix them.

I'm going to be pretty ambitious 2019. I probably won't be doing as much traveling. But you know me, I can't stay in one place for too long. My main theme for this year is Focus. Focusing on my goals almost fanatically, religiously. Senior year is 8 months away, Graduation is 17 months away if I want to bring my future self to life it's going to require a lot of focus.