First off, I want to take an opportunity to correct an error I made in my blog post from last week about the couple who became nomads for a year.
They did not live in the Bay Area of California in a lowkey neighborhood. They lived in a lowkey neighborhood of Atlanta, where her husband was a professor at a local university. Once Songify took off, they moved to the Bay Area of California. I didn’t want to misrepresent them in any way.
Just the other day, I was walking to class when it hit me how absolutely gorgeous Wesleyan’s campus is.
Over the past few months, my mind has been full of thoughts of escape and no more class and leaving and never paying money to go to school and not having to commute every day.
It was such a surprise that these thoughts all of a sudden changed at the sight of the greenest grass, the bluest skies, and most beautifully designed campus I had seen in a long time.
Suddenly, smells and memories started flooding back from the first day moving into the dorms, walking from my Aggie apartment to my campus life job, being an RA, making friends, attending Bible Study, going to my first football game, beautiful mornings, torturously early mornings in theory, music lessons, and more.
How often do we, when we’re stressed and exhausted, anxiety-ridden and in over our head, get so wrapped up thinking about the green-ness of the grass on the other side?
We look at our friends who are still in high school or out of school, doing and being, and we think, “Man, it must be so nice to be there.”
We don’t enjoy the journey, but there’s beauty in the journey. There’s beauty in the steps we take from where we are, from the little changes leading us to where we are going.
Draw some beauty from these quotes, and listen to these songs and think about your own journey.
“Isn’t it funny how day-by-day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different…” C.S. Lewis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYVh2Ab5MBk
“Transistor Radio” by Cloud Cult
“It’s your road, and yours alone./ Others may walk it with you,/ but no one can walk it for you.” Rumi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h8wEXoSpp4
“The Show Starts Now” by Cloud Cult
“Never compare your journey with someone else’s. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you but your journey is your journey. It’s not a competition.” Cheryl Jacobs
Thinking back, you may wish you had taken more time to enjoy the journey while you had the chance. Why not take that chance now?
If you’re experiencing anxiety or depression that is making life hard to cope with, talk to someone. I speak from experience when I say that they can help you weed through the cloudiness in your mind and come up with positive ways to cope with that anxiety and depression you experience. Also, check out WE LEAD Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week activities starting Monday!