on taking chances

 {via}

"If you get a chance, take it

If it changes your life, let it

Nobody said it would be easy

They just promised it would be worth it."

The problem with dating abroad is that I haven't been able to stay long enough in one city to justify dating someone.  I don't want to start something knowing it's going to end in a week because I have to leave the country.

When a certain chain of events didn't work out as planned for Thailand, I decided to stay in Australia for a while because I love it here so much.  Truth be told, I didn't think I'd meet someone here who could make me consider staying for this long.  

I am starting to realize that when you live abroad, and you know that you're only here for a certain amount of time, things start to move faster than usual.  I didn't think I'd want to take a chance on a man who lives in Australia, but I am ... and after spending six straight nights together at his bar, meeting his friends, brother, and coworkers, and going on our first official date last night, I don't know what to do now.

My intention was to visit Australia for five days, but then I started meeting people in the hostel and at the local bar, and suddenly I've been living here for three weeks.  My feelings of loneliness and homesickness have been crushed now that I have finally been able to build a [small] foundation here in Sydney. 

I want to give this a chance.  I owe it to myself now that I've finally found a genuine man who doesn't play games, but it's tough to do all of this knowing that I'll have to leave the country at the end of August.  All of his friends have asked me how long I'm staying and at this point, I just don't know. 

I suppose it's true what they say: you meet someone when you least expect it.  

I wasn't looking for anyone, but suddenly I've found someone. 

can you really have it all?

(via)

In a time where more and more women are climbing the Corporate Ladder, earning higher salaries, and building their own businesses, it's amazing how women are able to juggle it all.  I used to think it was either one or the other - a successful career or a loving relationship - but as I look around, I'm starting to wonder:

Can young women really have it all - a successful career, a happy and loving relationship and meaningful friendships?

I've never been able to juggle it all.  Lately I've been so career-driven and focused that I've pushed relationships and dating to the side.  Am I being selfish?  Maybe.  But I think I need to be - at least for the moment - in order for me to continue to work toward a successful career.  However, while it's nice to be so focused on my career, I definitely don't want to be one of those women who don't know how to juggle anything else in her life.  I want to be able to keep myself focused on my career path and have a relationship and maintain my meaningful friendships and play sports a few nights a week and... and... and...

I've never been on a first date.  I've always rushed into every single one of my relationships to the point where our "first date" ends up being meeting at a noisy, crowded bar with a group of friends.  And then those "first dates" may or may not have led to the walk-of-shame/kicking-the-guy-out-of-my-house-at-8AM.

So, maybe that's my problem? Maybe it's also why I'm in therapy.

Is it just me or is the first date no longer sacred?  Or am I just choosing the wrong men?  Or is the new thing now sleeping on the first date?!   

I know I've kind of been out of the dating world lately.  Not because I want to be, but moreso because I can't find anyone worth dating.  My last fling didn't work out so well (note to all you men out there:  hairy backs are not attractive), and I decided to take a respite from dating after that.  You would too if you had seen his hairy back!

I suppose over the years I've raised my standards of dating.  I've already done the hook-ups, one-night stands, and friends-with-benefits thing.  I've dated men with less than average packages who didn't know how to use them, and men who have over-sized packages, know how to use them, but fall short in creating any kind of emotional spark.  At the same time though, I also found a man who I thought was my soulmate, who satisfied me in every intellectual and physical way possible (you're welcome for the visual there), yet he still fell short.  Is it really that tough to find someone to connect with on every emotional and physical level? I know it's not about finding the perfect person, and I know the reality is that not every will satisfy you.  So when you find someone worth dating, and they don't satisfy every single one of your relationships needs, are you settling? 

Maybe, because I've been out of the dating world for a while, I don't know what I want.  Maybe everything has changed - first dates, first kisses, first intimate encounters.  Do we rush into relationships and engagements and marriage because we're infatuated with the idea of always having someone, of the convenience, of the intimate connection ... instead of searching for that one person who give you butterflies, challenges you in ways you never thought and makes you believe in that thing called true love?

Can you really have it all?