My New Year's Resolution 🎉

A few days ago, we left 2021 behind and welcomed in the new year with friends, family and loved ones (and maybe some booze too). The age old saying when the new year comes around is “New Year, New Me,” but this year I challenge you (and myself included), to make it “New Year, New Experiences.”

Every year, we are pressured to reinvent ourselves, reach big milestones to share on social media and achieve all of our goals in a matter of months. But let’s face it — the things that truly mean something to you take time and can’t be fully captured in a story or post. Be proud of who you are and how far you’ve come, and take every new day like an adventure. It’s OK if you don’t have it all figured out right now, and even if you do, I’m sure some things will change along the way.

With that being said, one of the biggest things you can control moving into the new year is how you spend your time. Surely, time seems to slip away from us (for instance, how the heck is it already 2022?!) and our job, family, friends and routines do seem to take up most of it; but, one of the most empowering things I’ve learned to do is to make time for your passions. Chances are, you don’t quite yet have your dream job where you get to live out your passion every day (and if you do, kudos to you!) and most days feel like the movie Groundhog Day. To break out of that rut, you need to pinpoint your passions and chase after them like there’s no tomorrow.

I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s liberating.

For me, this means making time to dance and travel. Although dancing and traveling are very different ways to spend my time, they both ignite a fire in me and challenge me to have new out-of-body experiences. I’ve danced since I could remember, and now that I’m an “adult” with a “real job,” it’s been hard to dance on a regular basis when taking class used to be part of my school schedule. I’ve been working to reclaim that by staying connected with the people, places and organizations I used to dance with, such as the dance company I co-founded in college, Fairleigh Dance Project, as well as finding a new studio that offers classes for adults and auditioning for a dance company.

Aside from the occasional family vacation (which I’m very grateful for), I really didn’t find my way into traveling until I went to college and met likeminded peers. Growing up, I had been taught that travel and the unfamiliar are scary and are better left alone, but through local hikes and day trips I knew I wanted more. Movies like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Up inspired me to want to have these big adventures, so when I heard of a school organized trip to Iceland, I made sure I was on the list.

Although I didn’t know anyone on that trip as a freshman, I had the time of my life. I hiked glaciers, soaked in a geothermal hot tub, explored waterfalls bigger than I could imagine and tried my first Bloody Mary at an Icelandic tomato greenhouse. The week after I got back, I was already off to see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side, and soon went to Taos, New Mexico, for a Habitat for Humanity mission trip, then to London, England, to visit my best friend while she studied abroad.

With every trip I went on, I became less afraid of the unknown and learned more about myself along the way. I grew the confidence to go on my own study abroad adventure, where I lived in Bergamo, Italy, for four months and traveled to 11 European countries, only knowing a tiny bit of Italian and French to get me through. Yes, I’ve gotten lost alone, cut hundreds of people at an airport security line to make a flight, sprinted to make trains, nearly been abducted and been told to line up by Swiss police at the border — but I don’t regret a single moment.

It’s scary. It’s fun. It tests you. It changes you. I’ve learned to let go, that you can’t prepare for what you don’t know is coming and to accept the fact that sometimes no plan is the best plan. I’m sure you’re wondering what happens when you come back from an adventure like that to the “real world” again, and the truth is you have two options: Go back to your routine life, or decide to break the cycle and continue the adventure.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” ~ Helen Keller

Since I’ve been back, I’ve gone on more road trips and visited more states than I can count on two hands, and while it isn’t the international adventure you see in movies, it’s just as rewarding — which brings me to my new year’s resolution for 2022.

This year, I not only want to keep the adventure alive through my own new experiences, but through capturing new and old travels here on Kaitlyn’s Compass. I absolutely love sharing my travel experiences with others, and it just so happens I enjoy writing too. So, follow along, ask questions and give suggestions. I look forward to all that is to come, and let me be the first to welcome you to Kaitlyn’s Compass.

Safe Travels,

Kaitlyn