I woke up this morning and realized that it has been one year since I escaped from the cube. By “cube” I am referring to that box that seems to confine one's very existence in the corporate world, a box that dulls the mind and weakens the soul, that keeps one from accomplishing great things. As I enjoy this moment of looking back at what once was, I think it may be a good time to take a retrospective look at what I have been able to accomplish in the time since I have “escaped from the cube.”

My three years in the cube were spent at one of the world’s largest corporations. In fact, at the time, it was the world’s largest entertainment and media conglomerate. I was extremely excited, to say the least, when I joined the company as I had many high hopes and expectations for success and upward mobility. Although I met many wonderful people while working there and have gained experiences that will last me a lifetime, the company itself lacked practically everything I was looking for and was full of just about everything I had not yet realized that I did not like.

In case you have not noticed from reading my blog, I am not a person that deals well with rigid structures. I consider myself to be a very free-flowing spirit. I do well in environments where I am given the ability and freedom to explore new ideas and run with them. Needless to say I did not have this in the cube. I think this was somewhat noticeable to people around me and there were some who gave me every opportunity they could to roam outside the cage, however, in a corporate powerhouse like that, even their abilities to give me these opportunities were limited.

So, the question remains, what have I done during this last year? I have spent the majority of this time trying to find my place in life and ultimately trying to find myself. After much thinking, I realized that I had no idea who I was? All I knew was what everyone wanted me to be, rich, successful, smart, responsible, homeowner, manager/director/VP, good looking, skinny, oh, the list went on and on. But in the end, were any of these things part of who I really was?

Immediately after escaping the cube I rushed to the one place on the planet where I had felt the happiest and at peace with myself… Hawaii. Ah, is it even necessary to say that I had an amazing time and truly enjoyed it (pictures coming)? Hawaii had once again taken the number one spot on my list as the place where I was going to move back to. However, before I took such a step, I wanted to get as much information as possible, so, my journey was not over yet. I spent the next few months reading books and researching what it was that I was “meant to do.” You know how they say that everyone has some special God-given talent, or something that defines who they are? Well, that is what I set out to find.

During my search, I came across a book called “Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type.” Although this book did not give me an exact answer, like: “You are going to be a fireman,” it did an amazing job of pointing me in the write direction. It gave me a breakdown of whom I was and what I liked to do and it ultimately gave me a short list of things that I “could” do and would be happy spending the rest of my life doing. The hard part now followed, choosing. By the way, writing this reminds me how much this book helped, so I am adding it to my “Recommended Books” section today.

After being given a variety of tools from this book, I felt better prepared to find out what I was going to do with my life, but another question remained… where? Hawaii was still number one on my list, however, the world did not and does not revolve around the islands and there are many other places in this world, so I decided to take a few trips to explore. I visited the Riviera Maya in Mexico, I went on a road-trip out to New Mexico and I even went back to Hawaii one more time just to be sure I wasn’t mistaken :). But it was during a couple of months I spent in Argentina (pictures coming) that I really started getting myself together.

I should mention that before going to Argentina, I thought that if I was really going to do “what I want” in this life, I was going to need a little more education, so, being the knowledge lover that I am, I decided to return to school to complete my MBA… but not just any regular school mind you, the most liberating, technologically advanced, and the most ideally-suited for a free-spirit like me, the University of Phoenix Online. I know this probably sounds like an ad, but let me just tell you that this school has changed my life. As long as I can continue to afford it, I think I will not stop attending. It has made learning and achieving higher education an attainable thing for someone who constantly feels like they just do not have enough time to do anything. I strongly recommend that any working adult looking for a way to go back to school, stop to take a look at this one.

Anyways, in September of 2005 I embarked on a journey to Argentina. This was another one that had some dramatic effects on my life. Going on this trip gave me plenty of time to think. It also reunited me with many family and friends that I had not seen since my childhood. It was during this time that I realized what I wanted to do. So, I began working on my plan to do so.

I decided that I was going to do exactly what I was doing when I was happiest in Hawaii. I was playing music, writing, reading, scuba diving and/or surfing, filming, and in school practically every day. I realized that it was doing all of these things that made me happy. During that period in my life, I was lucky enough to do the things that made me happy, so now that I have escaped from the cube, I decided that I was going to go back and start doing all those things again. However, since I also love to travel, and since, I have yet to figure out where I want to be, I added traveling to my list of things to do in order to find my “home base” if you will.

So, for anyone wondering what I have done with this last year of my life, I think I can simply say that I have found myself. I found that I want to express myself and share my experiences through writing, music, filming and photography, I want to frolic in the ocean, see the world, and meet new people and new places, and most importantly, I want to help others find what I was able to find… themselves. So what better way to accomplish all of this, I thought, than through the Internet? If you are reading this, than you have surely found my blog… my personal web log where I share all the things that makes me who I am and that will hopefully help others find out who they are.

So for me, 2005 was the year of discovery. If all goes well, 2006 will be the year of actualization and figuring out how to make a living doing all of these things that I want to do. Thank you for reading this and good luck in your discoveries.