Most 25-year-olds don’t have to triple check their heart rate during spin class. Most 25-year-olds don’t get hooked up to a heart monitor machine and run on a treadmill until they physically have to stop. Most 25-year-olds don’t have a scar running down the length of their chest. But I guess I’m not like most 25-year-olds.

We start voting almost as soon as we can talk. Growing up, maybe you voted for pizza for dinner, or to watch the Sound of Music for the thousandth time (sorry mom and dad). If you have a sibling – or two or three – chances are you’ve heard “majority rules” more times than you can count. Before we turn eighteen and proudly step out of a voting booth with an “I VOTED” sticker, we’ve voted for countless things in our life. 

Keep your eye on the ball. Don’t quit your day job. Eat dessert first (a personal favorite). You can’t take it with you. Never bite off more than you can chew. The best things happen when you stop waiting for them to happen. Over the course of 25 years, I’ve heard plenty of advice.

A phone call can change a life. In this case, it changed multiple lives (four, to be exact).

On paper, jobs in Maine could be based anywhere. They all include a certain salary, a couple weeks of paid vacation, health benefits and a promised work-life balance. But beneath the contract that you sign on Day One, I’ve found that there’s no place like Maine when it comes to work.