Courage

Courage. A word that I have heard a lot in the past few weeks in its various forms. So much so, that I think God handpicked the word to be my theme this year. So what is courage? Megan Alvarez says, “Courage is not the absence of fear or despair, but the ability to overcome them.” According to those in my inner circle and some others, I made an extremely courageous decision to quit my life as I knew it and move 2,000+ miles away to a foreign country. I’ve been living in Costa Rica for 6 months now and I’m extremely grateful for their daily reminders of my courageous spirit. It’s hard y’all! It’s really hard to be so far away from friends and family with no local support system. It’s been a really rough past month or so. I’ve been struggling with anxiety and depression for, honestly, probably years now. These last few weeks had me at a pretty low point. I was faced with a major decision and every option, to me, made me feel like I failed. I was reminded by my parents, my siblings, my grandparents and my 3 best girlfriends that, by no means have I failed. It’s taken incredible courage to get here, stay here and make the decisions that I have been faced with. With that being said, I have decided that my time here in Costa Rica is coming to it's end. I will be returning to the States in April and shortly thereafter, moving to Florida with my mom. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my mom's visit to Costa Rica next week and the rest of the time I have here in this beautiful country! I can always come back!

This experience, more than anything, has taught me how to make the best decisions for me, regardless of what others think. It's also been an awesome reminder that I need to keep leaning on God. He'll always have my back.

Anyways, this is a pretty short post for me but I'll be posting after my trip with Mom. Thanks to all of you for the love and support! It's meant a great deal to me and still does! Until next time, don't forget:

Travel out of your comfort zone, Live your BEST life and of course, Be COURAGEOUS! 

Love always, 

Kelli Marie