Until moving to Los Angeles in September I spent my entire life in New England, and just like many other New Englanders, I was quite convinced that nothing of importance existed outside of our region. I now realize I may have been wrong.

This realization actually started years before. After spending my freshman year in college in Connecticut, I transferred to a bigger university in Boston. My new school was not only ten times bigger in population, but also far more diverse. I was now meeting people from all over the world, and at the same time exploring a city rich with culture and history. It was here that I realized just how much I enjoyed meeting new people, especially those of different backgrounds who had lots to offer.

However the following three years after graduating left me at a standstill. There were some fun times, and being an avid reader I was still expanding my mind intellectually, but I wasn’t accomplishing anything. Just as most people do, I had taken a job and then remained there far too long, neither moving forward nor backward. My life remained about the same from day to day, and as each month passed this realization slowly started to drain my energy and motivation.

It was just months before my planned road trip and move out to California that I discovered personal development, first reading Brian Tracy’s “Maximum Achievement” on the advice (nagging, actually) of my twin brother. This book opened my eyes like no other book I had ever read, and soon I was reading others just like it. Being an avid reader and a writer, I was amazed that I no longer had the appetite for the same books and information as I had for so many years.

Now completely into personal development, I spent the entire summer planning a three-and-a-half week road trip to Los Angeles, which would begin the next phase of my life. Staying with friends and family, visiting national parks and getting lost in some of the country’s best cities that I had never before had the chance to visit, the trip was as much a learning experience as I’ve ever had.

Now I am here in sunny southern California, with the intention of making the next three years the most productive of my life. Working with a non-profit charity that helps homeless teens in LA County, I have already met some amazing, selfless people that work each day to help those they have never even met. The motto there is: you make a living by what you get, but make a life by what you give. I can think of no better way to live one’s life than by helping others, and I look forward to meeting new people each day with that philosophy in mind.

I no longer think of the three years I spent idling in Boston after college, but instead live by the motto: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.