THAT [unreliable] GIRL

If you don't like something, change it;
if you can't change it,
change the way you think about it.

- Mary Engelbreit

All changes, even the most longed for,
have their melancholy;
for what we leave behind us
is a part of ourselves;
we must die to one life
before we can enter another.

- Anatole France

When we are no longer able
to change a situation,
we are challenged
to change ourselves.

- Victor Frankl

All change is not growth,
as all movement is not forward.

- Ellen Glasgow

Continuity gives us roots;
change gives us branches,
letting us stretch and grow
and reach new heights.

- Pauline R. Kezer

For everything you have missed,
you have gained something else,
and for everything you gain,
you lose something else.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Change can be bittersweet, sometimes even painful, but it can also be invigorating, inspirational, and exhilarating. Almost 18 months ago, I was in much the same position that I find myself in now, despite how much has changed during that time. Much of that change has not been for the better, and I feel that for all I have lost, for all the setbacks, I haven't gained nearly as much (sorry Ralph!) It's been rough.

Something needs to change, something's got to give.

I don't quite know what to change yet, or even if it will just be a small daily ritual or a one-way ticket to the other side of the world. What I do know is that it's probably going to be difficult, it's very likely going to be bittersweet, but I'm going to make sure it's absolutely worthwhile.

[Photography by Koray Birand for Marie Claire US via DS]