urbanwanderlust: roving observations of a city girl: Defining the uncompromisables

Christy and I shared some fantastic time this weekend, over Walgreens and Patina and dinner at the Highland Grill.

I made a small purchase at Patina (I mean, come on... how can I NOT...): a lovely little quadrille notebook done up in a nifty little blue and orange and green color palette and smattered with wildflower drawings. Tres chic. But I bought the notebook for a specific purpose: I feel compelled these days to jot down the qualities I cherish in myself. Why, you say? Why, praytell, oh dear Sarah, would you need to write down the things you like about yourself?
1) Sometimes I forget. One of the things I really like about myself is that I am relationship-centric; my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues mean the world to me and I work incredibly hard to make sure those relationships are positive. Sometimes, that hard work means I neglect the Sarah time. I have to balance that. I have to remember to nourish the Sarah as well as nourishing the other people I care about.
2) After traveling on the living alone journey for a few months now, I have come to realize that I am very much not used to having quiet time. I'm just not sure what to do with myself when I finally get me all alone in a room. It's like an awkward first date with your inner self, and it's weird. I gotta get over that, because you know what? I'm not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm a pretty fantastic 20something and I'd really like to start digging on the time I have with myself.

That being said, I intend to write a little bit about each of these qualities of the Essential Sarah. The notebook is for me; it's just something I need as part of this process. It's also going to be a reminder that I define me. And that there are many things in life that are adaptable and flexible, and indeed we do change a bit based on who we are with and what we are doing and so on. But I definitely have to remind myself that there are uncompromisables... qualities and traits that make Sarah, Sarah, and that don't get sacrificed. In no particular order, here's my list (special thanks to Christy for being a part of the brainstorm. I am so exquisitely delighted to have a friend who I can always lean on to be introspective, philisophical and spiritual with, even if we come at it from such different places in life):