the annual St. Patrick's Day reflection post
Incoming: the annual St. Patrick's Day reflection/Paddy’s Day post.
St. Patrick's Day - one of my favorite days of the year, which has also become one of sentimental reflection.
To say that living in Ireland and getting my Masters degree at Trinity College Dublin was life-changing feels both utterly cliché and also entirely true. Moving to another country alone where I knew no one was not only a huge leap of faith but also a massive investment in myself. Although it wasn’t the first time I moved somewhere new on my own (boarding school at 14, college at 18, Los Angeles at 24), it was the first time I moved across a country and then an ocean to do it.
I truly believe everyone is capable of amazing things if only they get out of their own heads. The weeks leading up to the move to Dublin were full of moments of insecurity, anxiety, fear, and loads of confusion in learning a new system of doing (Ireland operates very differently than the US in a lot of ways). I asked myself (probably a million times - low estimate) if I was making the right decision, and with each day that passes and as I get further from my time living in Ireland, I know I did make the right decision for a million reasons that now only make sense in hindsight.
I left Ireland a changed woman. Yes, I left with a masters degree, but it is everything else I left with that continues to shape who I am today: incredibly deep friendships that continue today for which I am eternally grateful, an even stronger sense of self (surely my parents didn’t think this was possible lolol - hi Mom & Dad!), a better understanding of my role in the world and what motivates me, a couple European marathon finishes (which have led to a couple American marathon finishes), an ever-growing DnD habit, and memories of sunrises, sunsets, centuries of history, and incredible conversations with extraordinary people in countries around the globe.
I get a bit sentimental on St. Patrick’s Day because I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude for my time in Dublin, as well as my time spent traveling around Europe, the UK, and Ireland with Dublin as my homebase. "Take what works for you, and leave what doesn't" is a mantra that I have clung to for awhile now. I am so thankful for every suffocating, outgrown layer of myself that melted away in that magical country and for all the authenticity, tenderness, and self-conviction that grew as a result of time on my own in a place solely my own.
Thank you, Ireland, for letting me leave behind the layers of me that no longer fit and for allowing me to take my authentic self from your emerald shores. There is magic in your land, and I can only hope to return as soon as possible to synchronize.
Slainté!
Johny
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