Julie and Julia

So,
I like many women around the nation went to see Julie and Julia today, and it was touching and moving and inspiring in ways that leave me wanting to DO something to re-affirm the fact that I am living. Yes I am alive, but that is only a state of being. I want to live at the limits (mostly the highs) of my existence. I, like Julie, want to do something novel (pardon the pun) to lift myself from my daily routine. I need a hobby... and I guess a life wouldnt hurt either ;). But, at least I know I am moving in the right direction. I am gainfully employed at a job I dont hate and I get most major holidays off. It's a great first grown up job, and I am more than grateful to have it. Yet, I still have this feeling... like i'm missing the point or something; like I'm not seeing something thats right in front of me, or like i'm not doing something that I should; like I'm not living up to my potential, and this is a feeling I cannot live with.

How does one live up to their potential, and how do you know when you have? I wish I had a potential meter that would somehow let me know whether i'm getting close. Anyway, it was inspiring to see someone like julie, who has problems finishing things (like I do) and is somewhat caught in a rut (like I am), do something to change her life. she didn't wait for someone else to do it for her, she took her own life in hand and made herself into the person she wanted to be. I applaud the effort and have hopes of doing the same as soon as I figure out how I want to go about being the person that I always wanted to be.

So, no blog filled with adventures in suburbia for me, and I'm not going out and buying the next cookbook I see (though I believe cooking does have cathartic and restorative powers as well as the power to express emotions). I think the final moral of the story is that people should look into themselves and do the things that they love, with the people that they love. So, I will be spending the next 10-12 months really trying to figure out if that means staying or going in the context of my own life. Is teaching more fulfilling than learning? Short term vs Long term? I guess we will see...

Gina