My Big Announcement...

For some this might not come as a big announcement, and for others it may come as a shock, but in all honesty, for me, it just seems right. 

I am moving to Maui. 

Yes. You heard it right, Maui. 

It may seem like an irrational and crazy decision, but it has actually been well planned and thought out. I have spent countless hours talking (and crying) to my parents, weighed the pros and cons of leaving the area, worried about all the ups and downs, but it comes down to that I need to be happy and I need to do what is right for me. This was not an easy decision to come to and although scared out of my mind and nervous for what it might bring, I am excited for this new adventure. 

If you have followed or read any of this blog over the years, you have followed my journey through many seasons of Team in Training, and of course The Best Dive Job, which is probably one of the many things that sparked my dream to do this. And now you get to read about my newest adventure. 

I am not going to lie - I have been successful in my career in marketing and I've been lucky enough to be a part of some wonderful companies, and I am good at what I do. I love marketing and I enjoy it. I also never thought that I would find something that I love as much as diving. 

I've spent my whole life following the rules - go to school, work hard, swim fast, go to practice, get a job - and it has worked and I have found success and I am proud of all I have accomplished and I am lucky to be where I am today - and I recognize and acknowledge it. 

So why leave it all and teach diving?

In diving, when I went on my first dive in Grand Cayman, I was lucky enough to have a photo taken of me coming out of the water just as I surfaced. To me, this picture and the expression on my face is what I have and do use to remind myself about how and what happiness means to me. To me - It is truly and ultimately what happiness looks like. From the moment I came out of the water, I knew I had found "it" - I was done. 

Happiness. 

I think I have said it before in this blog, but there is a moment when I was competing in swimming that I spent years trying to replicate. It was the moment that in the middle of a race when the crowd is cheering, you're stressed, trying to beat the person next to you, just trying to be the best you can be and giving it your all - it is the rat race of life - and then you push off the wall into your pullout and there is perfect silence. Just the sound of the water and just you. It is perfect calm and peace. It is THAT moment that I spent years trying to replicate. I ran marathons, taught cycle classes, did yoga, whatever it was to try to find that moment again, and it was immediate and instantly came back to me when I took that first dive. It is the peace that makes me happy and it is what I want to share with others. I said when I came out of the water, probably right after that picture was taken, that I wanted to become an instructor. And although I didn't win BDJ, I did finish my instructor and now I want to take that next step and share it with others... in Maui. 

But why Maui? 

Well - again, if you read back, I visited last year and it holds a very special place for me. I took a week in between Gold's and Ratner and visited by myself. It was my first solo vacation (beyond diving trips) and it was something that is very personal and is hard to explain what it meant. I won't try to explain it because simply I can't. It was where I found the person I want to be, someone inside myself which I have somehow lost over the last year. 

Since the visit in August, I have visited twice - and I won't bore anyone with the details, but I had two totally different experiences with the trips. I was able to see and learn a lot about myself and when it comes down to it, my heart is there. Maui is where I find my peace and I am who I want to be. 

A good way for me to sum up "why Maui" is that I sit at my desk at work every day and I have two pictures that sit right next to my computer - to the right is a picture of Molokini that I ripped out of a magazine and the other is the framed photo that I have pasted above. It is just where my heart is and where I want to be.

Although I have no idea what the future holds, I know that what I am doing is something for me. It is out of the realm of what people normally do at this point in their life, but it doesn't matter. I am lucky to be able to have this opportunity and although it will be a challenge, something totally different and a bit out of my comfort zone, I am excited... Aloha!