Another Reflection

I'm looking at the title of this blog, ready to go home (I'm sitting here at the cafe listening to 3 gentlemen gabbing in another language, clearly it IS NOT Spanish!), but I need to get this out.

Journey Forth, travel forward, this blog has been about movement and experiencing life out there instead of just sitting in my cozy little compartment of life. And, as I sit here in Portland, for 2 weeks now, I find myself in the job hunt in what so many are calling a recession/depression. Yes, I could get worried and anxious, but I am making a daily choice not to. It has never changed my circumstances in the past and it's such a waste of good energy. So, as I hunt and wait and pray and hope and apply, I've caught myself forming the criticizing sentence, "Steph, you did this to yourself. Looking for another job because you keep moving and changing etc etc." And yet, this blog would not exist if I had not decided to change and take a chance, to venture out into the unknown. My looking for another job is the premium necessary to have had the amazing experiences that I've had!

I have a book I've been carrying with me to coffee the past week. I came across it unpacking my boxes and I don't remember who gave it to me, but it was a gift. The name, Simple Truths. It has several very short chapters and today I sat here and read the one entitled, "On Travel." You know what, I'm glad I'm looking for yet another job! I would have missed so much of what has caused so much growth in my life and in working out internally and externally who I am, who I was created to be...and doing that with vulnerability and authenticity.

Some quotes from that chapter:

• If we don't offer ourselves to the unknown, our senses dull. Our world becomes small and we lose our sense of wonder...
• Travel, no matter how humble, will etch new elements in your character.
• When I am old, and my body has begun to fail me, my memories will be waiting for me.

I'm not suggesting that life is all about travel and if you don't then you haven't lived. I AM suggesting that my state of affairs, the job hunt, is a necessary and welcome consequence to my need to travel and move in order to find that drum, that beat which I walk to. We all find it at different times in life and through our own journey. Changing jobs and looking for new ones has been my journey. I'm owning that! I've learned how satisfying it can be to simply work at a restaurant. I've found delight in learning about my coworkers, their stories, where they've been in pain and joy, sharing life...and I've been lucky as many of those relationships continue far beyond my employment.

I am blessed and hunting for another job!