You discover a lot about yourself and your surroundings when you choose to pick up and leave them. I find it ironic that I am infinitely more aware of, and drawn to, my environment and those who share it only after I decide that it’s time to take myself to a new place. Little occurrences start to acquire more substance than they did before, and somehow the mind becomes more open to new ideas and influences. That, after all, is one of the primary reasons for putting yourself out there and making yourself vulnerable by leaving your comfort zone, allowing yourself to learn and develop more as a human being, and experiencing everything that touches you with a little different light. This is intimately tied to the idea that “you never know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” – only that the discoveries happen in the present and not the perspective tense. The elderly gent who I greet as he is sweeping up the leaves by the local grocery every morning, my local barista at Farley’s East who knows my coffee of choice and doesn’t even have to ask before getting it started, and morning rides in to the office with coworkers when the weather is good are all daily occurrences that bind a community in a very subtle and subconscious way. You might not be aware of them, and probably take them for granted, but it’s the little things that make life so enjoyable.
A few months ago I was talking to a close friend about relationships, with the observation that the last three of mine have been long distance. I was questioning why this pattern was occurring and the two questions asked were “is my daily social environment not exposing me to the people with whom I find the strongest connections” or “does travelling simply open your mind in a manner that doesn’t occur when you’re in your daily routine?” The answer is probably a combination of both, but I think that the more important observation is that when we put ourselves in a situation that is not entirely comfortable, we are far more open to people than when we are in our steadfast, routine environment. It’s an important subject because ultimately, if you want to grow and develop as a strong contributing member of your local society, there should be a balance of both. It isn’t healthy for most of us to continually pick up and go, but becoming entrenched in routine inevitably leads to a closed mind, which leads to another quote that I try to live by: do something everyday that scares you. Strike up conversation with a total stranger, hold the gaze of someone you admire when your tendency is to shy away. Sign up for your first 100k and them immediately contemplate diving into a 100miler six weeks later. Try a dance class when you know that the idea of moving your two left feet might land you in a position of humiliation. Laugh it off. When you move to a new place, you have no choice but to live with this mentality otherwise you end up lonely and a stranger in your own environment. The trick is to continue to stick to this idea once the comfort bubble begins to form so that you continue to experience life, and the lives of others, to the greatest extent.
By making these observations open and available, I hope that I can hold myself accountable as I, once again, move through this process of relocating to a place where the world is unfamiliar and everyone is a stranger. They say that words have more power once they hit paper, and that is why journaling is successful for so many people. Somehow that act enforces accountability. Since this is my open journal, I’ll make sure to use it to check on myself.
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