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January 1 2020 | Life

The 10’s – the decade that made me

Truly they were…

See in 2010 when I was 24 I started my career, shortly after I bought my first place downtown and began building my network and self-worth.. a long cry from the teen angst and self-depreciation my teens afforded me.

I was in a band at the turn of the 10s, I still had a glimmer of hope that I’d be (at least) locally famous.. that our anti-establishment lyrics would change minds and policy and I had no idea that consumerism and capitalism would become central themes as I became more interested in building wealth for myself and those around me.

I still drove beat-up used cars, thought a $100 dress was an expensive purchase and ate at chain restaurants (I had no idea what good food tasted like). I ate my first oyster in 2013 and never looked back.

24 and not a bore.. oh yes, for the next 5 years my Blondteroge and I would walk to the front of the line at clubs and bars as If they had been waiting for us all night.. and maybe they had been. We’d start our after-party at 2:30 am and seeing the sunrise was a weekly right that held no consequences for the next day or week ahead.

No achy back, anxiety, depression, 2-day hangover, saving for semi in Leslieville ( if we had known what prices would be like we would definitely at least tried). The weekend’s party and the memories they would create would be what we reminisced about 10 years later when we were changing diapers on Saturday nights instead.

Almost everyone anyone I knew was dating is long gone and now they (we’re) married with children to people we didn’t know existed back then.

In my mid-twenties I learned to make friends with people of different demographics, they could be 20 years older, a different sexual orientation, different religion and color… I no longer looked for physical similarities and focused on common goals and interests.. I wanted to learn about different perspectives and challenge my own.

Living downtown in the most multicultural city on earth forced my brain muscle to expand, I could no longer only look through the lens of a privileged white girl from the suburbs and truly connect with those around me… I had to understand people I met at a humanistic level instead of an aesthetic one.

Halfway through the decade, I uprooted the life I had created, moved out of my current place, vowed to work harder at my vocation and committed to traveling the world (even if it meant doing it alone). I went to see my best friend and her new life in Africa (who knew she would accomplish all that she has.. and that she would never be coming back), I skydived the alps, road motorcycles on the cliffs of Mykonos, zip-lined the Andes, hiked the Rockies, tangoed in Buenos Aires, Sang with a Vietnamese band in Hoi An and navigated the Toyko Subway System(s).on this day exactly 5 years ago I spent the night alone on a small san Blas island with no reception and three books, It was one of the best weekends of my life.

I turned my casual real estate business into a serious one and in 2018 became one of the top 35 under 35 agents for royal Lepage Canada. I learned to build homes, I did my first project in 2017 and plan to expand that business in the roaring ’20s. I moved 6 times in 10 years …left my west side life, moved east and bought a stroller – thank god I started drinking coffee in 2016.

In 2019 my brother got sick, I learned all about the Canadian health care system, that nurses and social workers are earth dwelling angels and that you can’t get back your health once it’s gone.

While I pretty much lived at the hospital this past year I learned to grieve and accept that he would never be the same but the baby in my stomach would create bright days that would light the dark.

Speaking of dark days, in 2014 I had my first bought of depression, the feelings of depression are much scarier than the word itself. Episodes of this and OCD would become my reality and taking care of my body would become my top priority. I remember my first distance run in Krakow Poland and ran my 1st half marathon 2 years later – I’m gonna do it again this year.

Man, the 10s… I really LIVED.. imagine what the 20s will bring.

Listen, I promise I won’t do another one of these for 10 more years if you promise to truly be alive. Go get that job you want, quit the one you hate, break up with that girl who’s holding you back, pick up the bloody phone when your mom or dad calls / as many of my friends who lost parents this year can attest – you will one day kill to see their name on your phone.

Life is long but life is also so so short – it’s all you’ve got and it’s all that is…

I wish you endless joy and courage as we enter this new decade.

I’ll see you, with perfect vision in 20/20

Happy new year!