The world has changed so much in the past year that we have no option left but to change with it as it comes. For me, life has changed so much in that same year that I couldn't help but to feel taken aback by the "new" normality that had come to my life. There was no going back to old ways, the only option was to move up and forward. 

The day I lost my father, my world changed completely, there was no time to mourn, no time to sit down and try to figure the next step out. I was lost but the people around me knew, everyone had a plan and a way to fit me into it. I remember sitting in the living room, staring at the wall and not being able to focus on anything farther than a couple of centimeters away from me.

It was by day three that life started to roll around to me, I got a call, a job, some money and a plan to move around as fast as we could. By that day I still couldn't cry, I couldn't fandom anything, but I still had to figure out what to do next, and it had to be quick because there weren't going to be second chances, not this time at least. 

They wanted me to be in charge of IT in this company, we all know this kind of opportunity reaches you once. So, even when I knew I wasn't ready for such a task, I took it and I got the work position I always dreamed of in one of the saddest, worst parts of my life. There was no place for me to be the immature girl, the work of multiple people relied on me. 

Now, a month and a half in, I want to think I'm starting to settle once again and everything is starting to make a lot more sense. It's impressive how much a person can change in the span of a couple of years. If you would've told 3 years ago that I would be standing here, in my office, as an executive, in a rather stable relationship, I would've laughed a lot.

So, here's to more trying, to more writing and to more growing, to 25 and more to come. 

Mayte.