Paradise lost, then found

July 2007 - I'm living in San Diego, California (Pacific Beach, to be specific). It is 75 degrees and sunny every day. I live in a gorgeous apartment 30 yards from the beach. I watch the sun set over the ocean from my spot on a surfboard every afternoon. I have a high paying job. I drive a company car. I have just been promoted 6 months ahead of schedule, and I'm on the fast track to a management position with an extremely reputable company.

I have never been more miserable.

August 2007 - Out of reading materials to keep me occupied while sitting on the beach, I head to a local bookstore, and stumble across a copy of Tim Ferris's 4 Hour Work Week. Although it sounds too good to be true, the tagline for the book has me hooked instantly: "Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich." How could I NOT buy that book?

I read the book three times over the next week, flipping out with excitement and realizing that I'm the type of person that could actually benefit from this thing. At 23, I have already discovered that I am not cut out for corporate America; I need to be running my own company, and I need to have fun doing it. I need to wake up in the morning and be inspired. I need to wake up and want to go to work. I need to wake up with a smile on my face.

Flashback to October 2006 - I am on St. Thomas. The sun is slowly setting over the water. The beach is sandy white, the ocean emerald green, and I'm surrounded by my favorite people in the world: my friends. An ice cold Carona sits in my right hand as I set up my beach chair, ready to soak my toes in the water. As I get ready to bring the drink to my lips, I hear a "beep beep beep" in the background, growing ever louder. I sit bolt upright, glance at my alarm clock, and realize it's 5:30 in the morning, I have to go to a job that I dislike. My friends are all 2000 miles away. Life sucks. At this point, I yell out numerous obscenities and wake my brother up in the room next door (sorry Jack). It will be another year before my mind finally catches up to what my heart already knows - I have to get out of here.

October 2007 - I spend a glorious Sunday afternoon in Centennial Park in Nashville, TN...DREADING the return to California, a place I should love. I will always look back on this afternoon as the first day of the rest of my life. She asks "are you happy in California?" I reply after a few pensive moments with "no, not really." She comes back with another question that will change the next two months of my life dramatically: "Then, why are you staying there?"

On my airplane ride home, I have a mini-panick attack and talk myself down from jumping out the emergency window. That night, I receive an instant message from a college friend who tells me that he and my other friend will be moving to Atlanta in December, and they need another roommate. Immediately, my eyes light up and a grin spreads across my face, and I know that my days in San Diego are limited. I wake up the following morning with a smile on my face, and know that my mind is already in Atlanta.

November 2007 - I am driving 2000 miles by myself across the planes of Texas in a car that has neither heat nor air conditioning. I remove as many clothes as possible when the sun is up, due to the increased temperature in the car, and put on as many clothes as possible at night (including extra pairs of socks) so that my feet don't freeze. I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm worn out. I have never been more excited.

I have never been so alive.

December 2007 - I start my new job at a music promotion company, despite not having a place to live yet. I spend two weeks on a friend's couch and continue to drive a car with no heat.

January 2008 - I spend most of January and February on various Carnival Cruise ships in the Caribbean, hanging out with some of the world's most famous musicians. One night, after one too many drinks, I throw my arm around the owner of the company that hired me, and ask him how much I have to pay him for this experience. Luckily, he doesn't take me up on this request, and continues to pay me for my services. That's right, I hang out with rock stars in the Caribbean, and get paid for it. Pat myself on the back for making the decision three months earlier to leave a job I hate and take a risk on a "marketing assistant" position.

June 2008 - Still plugging away with my new job. Rediscover Tim Ferriss' book (I had loaned my copy to a friend in need of inspiration, and he decided to buy me a new one rather than return mine), and make the decision to work on bettering myself as a person in as many ways as possible.

June 28, 2008 - Today, I have already been to the gym even though it's Saturday. I have also contacted the Emory Children's hospital about volunteering over there once or twice a week. I started to learn a new song on the piano. I have started this blog, chronicling my attempts to level up my life - as an employee, roommate, friend, entrepreneur, and human being. I fully believe that I am destined to do great things; I realize greatness will not be dropped on my lap, I must go out and get it.

The Shawshank Redemption, my favorite movie of all time, has taught me to "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin.'" This doesn't mean that I will not go out on weekends, and not have fun. It means that I will work on being better at whatever it is I'm doing: getting ready in the morning, gambling in a casino, cooking myself dinner (ha!), trying to start my own company on the side, working out in the gym, or helping out people in need. If there's a better way to do it, I will find it.

Get busy living or get busy dying? Time to get busy living.