The Future

Last night I made official what I had already told some people- I will be leaving as Lehigh Valley Young Democrats President at the end of the year. It is not a terribly shocking announcement, I'm only eligible for one more term because of age, and frankly it's a good time to let someone else take charge. I built a pretty nice executive board of 20 somethings, and they are more than ready to run the group for the next decade. I did my job in getting it started.

The only reason this is worth a post is because of the larger signal I guess it sends about my life- geography is no longer a factor. I spent this past weekend in DC, and a previous weekend, and I enjoyed it both times. Before that I spent two months in North Carolina, and I enjoyed that too. Obviously my home will never really change, but I'm realizing the time to stop limiting myself is now. I'm 33. I've spent better than a decade building relationships and making friends, sometimes better than others, and the time to make it count for something is now. While I will remain a resident of Palmer Township, in the Easton area of Pennsylvania, there are new challenges ahead. They require me to free up some of my time and efforts.

Nobody can run everything, nor should they. I declined a nomination to run for my local committee's treasurer, and I will only remain as the strategy and new media committee chairman positions for 2017 on that body. I will remain in my role as a county and state Democratic Committee member, and I will expand my campaign footprint for 2017. I intend to fight like hell against an oncoming Presidency that I oppose. The stakes are high- particularly for my friends who do not benefit from the privileges and advantages that I do. Now is not the time for silence.

I am also 33 years old. The time for direction in life has arrived. While I have enjoyed spending the last 14 years of my life wondering in the political world, it is time to have a career, not just a job. It is time to perhaps do some adulting too. I have other roles, outside of politics, such as my role on the Moravian College alumni board, which I want to put some more serious time into moving forward. I'd like to have a personal life yet, and I'd like to see some new and different places. There is a great big world out there, and there's much for me to learn from it.

The point of all of this is the realization that I am finally free from a life outlook that was entirely based around a singular future campaign, and the constraints it placed on me. I don't know entirely what that means yet, but I am excited to find out. I'm also excited to speak out in my own, independent voice. Lord knows that we need more of them moving forward.