The Poconos

 

Once you stop writing, its hard to start again.  What's important is that you do.  I never wanted this blog to be a source of stress but it could have easily become that if I let it.  My most recent travels have brought me from my old home in Salem, MA to my new home in the Poconos in Pennsylvania.  I think this is potentially the most important form of travel to undertake.  It is an incredibly difficult thing to undertake the moving of one's belongings and life and bring them from a place of familiarity and comfort to a new, different, uncomfortable location.  And yet I believe that without change like this, life would be incredibly boring and stagnant.  Without it, I wouldn't have the opportunity to learn more about myself.  I would simply be repeating patterns that are tried and true and safe.  So although moving creates anxiety and uncertainty in the present, I have to trust that it will also cultivate new strength, adventure, and confidence in the future. 

Some observations since the move:

First and foremost, we all know that people operating motor vehicles in Massachusetts have a reputation for being bad drivers.  It has been said that they are rude, impatient, and reckless.  However, after moving to this particular area of PA, I do believe we ought to cut them a little slack up north.  Truly, the drivers here are 10 times worse than anything I ever experienced in the Boston area!  (And I haven't even been here a week yet!)

Second, let me note that I feel blessed to be living in the hotel that I am.  The outside and inside are beautiful, the staff are helpful, my room is comfortable, the laundry facilities are free, there is always plenty of parking, and they serve free food every day (sometimes multiple times a day)!  I can walk down the hall and work out whenever I want.   And better still is that housekeeping comes to clean my room and give me fresh towels every day!  Its almost like being at FLETC again (minus the towel pyramid and my awesome friends).

Although the hotel is great, its not sustainable in the long run for my needs.  So, since day 1 I have been looking for an apartment to rent.  No luck yet.  Of most interest to me is that apparently buying a house is much cheaper than renting an apartment here!  Usually its the other way around, right?  Should I consider buying?  I think about that for a minute or two and then dismiss it again.  There's no reason to do that yet as a young, upwardly mobile, single individual.  And it would tie me down more than I want to be right now.

Another thought: people complain about their jobs so often!  Our society works for the weekends. People admittedly live mostly for the two short days of freedom where their happiness supposedly surpasses what they have during the other 5 days of the week.  You know what?  I want more than that.  I experienced 11 weeks out in Wyoming where I was NOT working for the weekend.  99% of the time out there, I almost dreaded weekends!  I  know there were other factors involved there (i.e. wanting training to be over so I could get on with real life) but I honestly had fun doing my job in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks so much that I didn't want to go home.  I was excited to go to work every day and I looked forward to it!  I loved the adventure and I knew I was getting better at my job every moment.  THIS is what I want to find.  Not just in training, but every single day.  I am seeking joy (which is a little different than happiness) for all 7 days of the week.  Some might say its not possible.  I am hopeful that it is. 

I've been learning lately that life isn't perfect (that would be putting it mildly).  That no matter where I go there will always be "Kevin's".  There will always be people who do bad things (job security, I guess....) and those who will want to stand in my way.  But I also believe that there is a niche for everybody where the good outweighs the bad.  Where, although there is still clearly sin in the world and storms come to toss and blow and howl and try to destroy, there is something, Someone, to be an anchor of hope.  Where there is enough good surrounding me that it becomes easy to focus on "whatever is good, pure, and lovely". 

Salem was not that place for me.  Pennsylvania may or may not turn out to be that place either.  But what I learned in Salem is that beauty. blessings, and good things (in the form of friendships, nature, local culture, etc.) can come from the most unexpected places.  Unfortunately, most of these things aren't realized until they are gone or about to be gone.  I know now to look for the beauty as it is unfolding, for the story before its finished being written - to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.  I want to take the time to look around and appreciate what I have before the time comes to make a change.  Despite my tendency toward believing that Salem was a God-less territory, I have come to be proven incredibly WRONG!  Despite a lack of Christian radio, God is most definitely working and moving in the lives and hearts of the people there as He was in my own life, though I was largely blind to it at the time.  I was leaning on my own understanding, which is exactly what the Bible says not to do.  Long story shorter, I want to shift my perspective away from my own understanding from now on.  Somebody else deserves my trust more than myself.